Southern Belles by @DavidOAtkins

Southern Belles

by David Atkins

The polls in the Deep South primaries show a neck-and-neck between Gingrich and Romney, with Santorum in a distant second. But more interesting than the overall numbers is the continued gender gap. Take, for instance, the ARG poll in Mississippi:

Gingrich leads among men with 38%, followed by Romney with 26%, Santorum with 20%, and Paul with 14%. Romney leads Santorum 43% to 25% among women, followed by Gingrich with 24% and Paul with 2%.

While this is merely a continuation of a solid trend in this Republican contest, two things jump out here.

First, remember that this is a poll of Republican women in the Deep South. As women go, this is as conservative a population as you'll find in the United States outside of maybe Utah and Idaho. And even they can't stand Gingrich or Santorum.

If Republican men had their way, Romney would be toast. It's Republican women who are keeping him afloat, and it's an enormous gender gap. Given that Southern men make up the cultural heart and soul of modern Republicanism, the fact that the GOP is about to nominate a candidate despised by Southern men should be a gigantic flashing red sign that something is out of kilter for them.

But the second and perhaps more interesting point is that even Santorum does better among Mississippi Republican women than Gingrich does, despite Gingrich's (adopted) native appeal. That's a little disturbing, if not altogether surprising. Apparently, philandering husbands are more scorned than theocratic nutcases who try to take away their birth control.

Put in those terms, I suppose the Clinton years really do make sense after all.


.