Bad News For Romney? The Culture Wars Return Full Force

You might label the past few weeks “Return of the Culture Wars.” And, as ABC News notes, it’s bad news for the former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney:

The resurgence of social and cultural issues in voters’ minds poses new challenges for GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney as he reels from surprising losses Tuesday to conservative favorite Rick Santorum.

The economy remains the No. 1 issue of concern for a majority of Americans. But the recent hoopla surrounding the Obama administration’s support of contraceptives, the court ruling against California’s same-sex marriage ban and heated debate about abortion access has created a perfect storm that has pushed these seemingly dormant issues to the surface.

“They’ve never been far from the surface. A lot of people thought the social issues had disappeared but that has never been the case,” said Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute who focuses on polling data and public opinion. “These issues are obviously very important within a conservative party, the Republican party.”

The problem for Romney: even though he tries to talk the talk on these issues many conservatives don’t think he walks the walk — and don’t trust him when he talks. Santorum? Clearly (agree with him or not) he speaks from the heart. In one sense, is a modified version of the Republicans 1964 battle all over again with Romney as a kind of conservative talking Nelson Rockefeller and Santorum as the blunt spoken Barry Goldwater (and we know how that turned out).

Meanwhile, although you’d never know it listening to liberal talk radio or some shows on MSNBC, liberals don’t make up the majority of voters: liberals and conservatives need to win over moderates and indes to win:

Even the general public has increasingly leaned to the right. In a Gallup poll last month, 40 percent of Americans identified themselves as conservative, 35 percent as moderate and 21 percent as liberal. The numbers marked the third straight year that conservatives outnumbered moderates, which have declined steadily since the early 1990s.

An overwhelming number of Republicans – 51 percent – dubbed themselves as “conservatives” while 20 percent classified themselves as “very conservative,” far outweighing moderates. The poll also found that independents, who make up the largest political group in the country, were mostly conservative-leaning, with 41 percent putting themselves in that category.

Not good news for Romney — and most assuredly a warning flag for Democrats if they hope to re-win the White House and/or make gains on what they have in Congress or not lose what they have.

“In recent years, conservatives have become the single largest group, consistently outnumbering moderates since 2009 and outnumbering liberals by 2 to 1. Overall, the nation has grown more ideologically polarized over the past decade,” the analysis stated. “The increase in the proportion of conservatives is entirely the result of increased conservatism among Republicans and independents, and is also seen in Americans 30 and older — particularly seniors.”

Santorum, with his staunch anti-abortion stance and Christian ideology, has strong backing among conservatives who still view Romney and his record with skepticism. Newt Gingrich was able to attract some of that conservative support in South Carolina but his personal record, including two failed marriages and an affair with his current wife while he was still married, has come under much public scrutiny.

Romney has another problem: another tsunami of negative ads that obliterate Santorum is not going to help him. New and old media and conservative talk show hosts now share one view: Romney needs to make an afffirmative case now on why voters should vote for him as opposed to why they shouldn’t vote for Gingrich or Santorum.

Kind of like what Republicans will need to do in the general election when the party’s nominee opposes Barack Obama.