CONCORD, N.H. – Long accustomed to telling voters not to pay any attention to his low standing in the polls, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum stuck to that underdog message as he talked to voters across the Granite State Thursday, all but ignoring the considerable bump in support his near-victory in Iowa gave him.
The latest national poll from Rasmussen shows Santorum in second place, behind only Mitt Romney, a 17 percentage point gain over just a few weeks ago when he was still in single digits.
The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania insists he’s ignoring the polls even as his numbers are improving just as he ignored them earlier in his long-shot campaign.
“What matters now is New Hampshire,” Santorum told The Washington Examiner after his fourth campaign event Thursday.
Santorum, who on Tuesday lost the Iowa caucuses to Romney by just 8 votes, is experiencing a whole new level of attention in New Hampshire, where voters will crown their favorite Republican presidential candidate in a Jan. 10 primary.
Where once there were small crowds and a reporter or two at Santorum events, now there are throngs of supporters, curious voters, a mob of cameras, boom mikes and notebook-toting media.
And while Santorum may be ignoring the polls, his top aides are celebrating his new numbers.
“The polling is looking really good,” Bill Cahill, Santorum’s New Hampshire co-chairman told The Examiner. “It’s happening. It’s trending upwards.”
Santorum raised $1 million since Iowa, but that leaves him with far less money than Romney or another rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Cahill said the campaign will begin running a television ad on New Hampshire’s cable station that promotes Santorum as the conservative alternative to Romney. He already has a radio ad running.
Santorum is also enjoying a lot of free media attention.
He visited a diner in the quiet town of Tilton Thursday, hoping to chat with the lunchtime customers. But Santorum was enveloped by a horde of reporters and cameramen, making it impossible for a voter to squeeze in far enough to shake his hand.
A few managed, including Margo Weeks, who questioned whether Santorum was ready for the office of commander in chief since Santorum never served as governor or in an executive role.
“I liked his answer,” Weeks, of Guilford, said. “He talked about his leadership skills.”
Andrew Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire polling center, said Santorum’s Iowa bump will be limited in the Granite State because voters here are more moderate and far more secular than those in Iowa, where Santorum’s pro-Christian message resonated with the state’s large, faith-based voting bloc.
The latest Suffolk University poll shows Santorum now in third place in New Hampshire, but with only 8 percent of the vote, compared to 41 percent for Romney and 18 percent for Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.
“I think the best Santorum can hope for is a distant second place to Romney,” Smith said.
But Santorum aides tell The Examiner that for a candidate once at the bottom of the heap, a second-place finish in New Hampshire would be a victory and it would propel Santorum into South Carolina, more conservative territory that could further boost his momentum — and further threaten Romney’s lead.
