Still An "Anti-Romney" Feeling In The GOP

(The caricature of Wall Street Willie above was done by the inimitable DonkeyHotey.)

I know that the pundits are telling us that the Republican nomination is over (and it virtually is) and that Republicans are now coalescing behind Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie), but I'm not buying it -- at least the part about Republicans happily backing their soon-to-be candidate. I still see some significant anti-Romney feeling being expressed by voters.

In almost all of the primaries while he still had opponents, Romney was unable to get 50% of the vote (and the teabaggers and evangelicals searched far and wide for a viable candidate other than Romney). Even now that all of the other candidates have "suspended" their campaigning, there has still been about 30% of the Republican electorate that continues to vote against him -- and for people who are no longer even candidates.

Next week the state of Texas will hold their primary, and it is very likely that primary will give Romney enough delegates to put him over the top. But a recent Texas Tribune/University of Texas Poll shows that there is still a strong anti-Romney feeling in the state -- even more than recently shown in other states. Here are the latest poll numbers:

Mitt Romney...............63%
Ron Paul...............14%
Rick Santorum...............10%
Newt Gingrich...............9%
Michele Bachmann...............3%
Jon Huntsman...............1%
Other...............1%

Now in a general election, against a real opponent, 63% would be considered a blowout. But this isn't a general election. It is a primary where Romney really has no opponents left in the race. The fact that 37% of Texas Republicans will probably vote against him, even though he is the only candidate left, has to be an embarrassment. These voters are sending him a message -- that they still don't trust him, or believe he's serious about his new right-wing positions.

These voters (largely teabaggers and evangelicals) will be watching Romney closely. If he does as most pundits say he must, and move away from the right and toward the center, it will just verify for these right-wing true-believers that they were right not to trust him -- and many of them may find a third party or just stay home on election day.

Now the odds are very good that Romney will win Texas in November -- it is a very red state. But we shouldn't underestimate this anti-Romney feeling that still permeates the GOP. It could put some unexpected states in play, and it will help Democrats in swing states.