Santorum: ‘We can win this race’
Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum greets supporters duriing a campaign stop at the Cook Out restaurant, January 13, 2012 in Gaffney, South Carolina. Voters in South Carolina will head to the polls on January 21st. to vote in the primary election to pick their choice for U.S. presidential candidate.
GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum might have won a last-minute backing of 150 conservative Christian leaders, but Reuters reported the endorsements are having little sway among Republican voters in South Carolina.
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"I make decisions for myself and I don't listen to what a bunch of leaders say to do," Victoria Jaworowski, who was attending the Cathedral of Praise mega-church in North Charleston, told Reuters.
Santorum has been trying to position himself as the clear conservative option against Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney.
"Don’t buy all this baloney that we need a moderate to win," Santorum said. "We need someone with strong, core convictions. We can appeal to the voters in the states that we need to win, and that’s not him (Romney), that’s us."
Santorum said of the evangelical leaders that supported him:
“They know that I’m the consistent conservative; I’m someone who’s willing to stand up for all of the issues…I beat Gingrich and Perry in Iowa. I beat them again in New Hampshire.”
Although Santorum said his recent backing was a “very big deal,” his endorsements from the Christian leaders, who took a third ballot to narrowly support him, may not matter.
A survey released this week by the Pew Research Center showed only 22 percent of Republican voters say they would be more likely to vote for a presidential candidate if their local priest, rabbi or minister endorsed them.
More from GlobalPost: Prominent GOP political endorsements may hurt presidential candidates more than help
Regardless, the former Pennsylvania senator said Sunday he is sure the race will ultimately narrow down between him and Romney, Politco reported.
“Once this field narrows and we get it down to a two-person race," Santorum said on Fox News Sunday but stopped short of saying which GOP candidates needed to drop out. "We have an excellent chance to win this race.”
A Sunday poll by Real Clear Politics, which averaged poll results from Gallup, CNN, Reuters, CBS and Pew Research, found Sanotrum leading third with 14 percent with Newt Gingrich second with 16.4 percent and Romney leading the pack at 29.4 percent.