How does a candidate with such a financial advantage as Mitt Romney end up down in the polls?
Well, for one, there's such a thing as overkill.
South Carolina voters don't agree on their candidate yet, but there's overwhelming agreement that the TV and radio ads, telephone calls, and mailers are too much. Many claim that they've had at least a dozen robo-calls a day.
And as for mailers, many voters claim they don't even bother to read them anymore.
"I thrown a lot of it in the trash," says Willis Haley, coming to vote at a precinct in Greenville, in the state's more rural area. "It's a waste of money."
Romney—who by no means is the only offender, but has outspent his rivals, especially in the conservative northern area of the state—may have even felt some backlash.
"I'm a little annoyed with all of the mail he's been sending me," says Michelle Halbert, another Greenville voter, who complains that she's received the same Romney mailer five times. She was debating between Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, but ultimately decided on Paul. "Don't you have better things to do with your money?"
And even when it doesn't specifically backlash against Romney, the saturation of advertising between the candidates has a way of canceling itself out and leveling the playing field..
"We already know pretty much everything," says another Greenville voter, Alex Acree, who said he was voting for Romney.
- See political cartoons about the GOP hopefuls.
- Is South Carolina Newt Gingrich's to lose?
- See photos of the Republican contenders on the campaign trail.
aparker@usnews.com
Twitter: @AlexParkerDC
Reader Comments Read all comments (1)
Tim H. of SC 7:20AM January 23, 2012