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Polls were widely off in Alabama, Mississippi

Polling underestimates fervor of Rick Santorum’s supporters

By Shira Schoenberg

 |  Globe Correspondent  

  March 14, 2012

Of nine polls conducted in Alabama this month, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum led in just one. Polls put Santorum in third place in Mississippi. When the two states held their primaries on Tuesday, Santorum won both, leading pollsters to wonder: what went wrong? “It appears that the intensity of support for Rick Santorum was higher than was picked up in the polls,” said Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, which polled in both states. “I think that’s something we’re going to have to contend with going forward.”

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