Pennsylvania poll suggests some political fallout for Rick Santorum

It’s been a while since we talked about our old friend Sen. Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum. With this in mind, I appreciate long-time Carpetbagger friend Chief Osceola for giving me a heads up on the latest news out of the Keystone State.

You probably remember that Santorum got into a little trouble last month when he compared gays to adulterers and bigamists, arguing that gays can and should be arrested for their private conduct because he rejects the notion of a right to privacy.

It’s worth noting that Pennsylvania is a fairly odd state when it comes to political identity. It tends to vote Democratic, but more often than not, it’s up-for-grabs. Gore won Pennsylvania in 2000 and the state has a popular Democratic governor, but both of the state’s senators are Republican. To be sure, the state’s two major population bases — Philadelphia on the east and Pittsburgh on the west — are heavily Democratic, but the center of the state is extremely conservative. James Carville once said of Pennsylvania, “It’s Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in the middle.”

It was therefore interesting to see how the controversy affected Santorum back home. A new poll suggests little effect on his overall popularity, but there are signs of trouble for him.

A statewide poll conducted by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute showed Santorum’s approval rating at 55 percent, exactly where it was before the anti-gay, anti-privacy controversy erupted.

The main difference, however, is that before the flap, Santorum had a disapproval rating of 20 percent, with 24 percent undecided. Now it’s a different story, with the disapproval rating jumping to 33 percent.

In case you’re interested, Santorum won’t be up for re-election until 2006, and by then voters in Pennsylvania probably will have long forgotten about this controversy. Nevertheless, the senator is helping to build a base of voters who dislike him. I know it’s a long time away, but I’d love to see Ed Rendell run against him in three years.