Gingrich wins South Carolina primary

Propelled by strong recent debate performances, Newt Gingrich thoroughly defeated Mitt Romney in Saturday’s South Carolina primary.

Gingrich, a former Speaker of the House, received 40.4 percent of the vote, coming in well ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Romney — once the frontrunner in South Carolina — who garnered just 27.8 percent.

Gingrich’s campaign experienced a surge in polls in the past week, aided further by Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s exit from the race just two days before the primary and his endorsement of Gingrich.

“Especially with Perry exiting the race, Newt had a pretty strong position in South Carolina going in,” said Wharton junior and College Republicans President Laura Brown, a Daily Pennsylvanian staff member. “Now we have a much more intense race.”

Gingrich’s victory also comes amidst increased scrutiny over his admitted extramarital affair.

Gingrich’s second wife said in an interview last week with ABC News that he had “wanted an open marriage.” In a debate hosted by CNN in South Carolina on Thursday, moderator John King used the very first question to ask Gingrich about this allegation.

“I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that,” Gingrich said, earning a standing ovation from the audience.

Gingrich has been confronted about his three marriages and extramarital affair many times in the past — including during a visit to Penn last February that made national news. After a speech in Irvine Auditorium, then-College sophomore and President of Penn Democrats at the time Isabel Friedman asked him pointedly, “How do you reconcile this hypocritical interpretation of the religious values that you so vigorously defend?”

“He dismisses the question [about his affair] pretty quickly,” said Friedman, now a junior and chair of the Penn Political Coalition Executive Board. “He clearly wants to focus on things that are more relevant for him.”

She added that Gingrich, whose campaign had been floundering in the past few months, had achieved an effective turnaround.

“People wrote him off as a hack, even among conservatives,” she said. “[But] he’s a very strong speaker. He has strong opinions.”

Friedman said that Gingrich’s victory is perhaps indicative of a change in the direction of the race away from social issues and toward economic issues.

“The focus is shifting a lot more on the economy, and that shift is evident in South Carolina,” she said.

Will Sturm — chair of the South Carolina College Republicans and a senior at Clemson University — agreed that a lot of the social issues “took a backseat” in the primary and that “the economy was the issue,” especially for college-age voters in the state.

“I have three months left [of school] right now,” he said. “The prospects [after graduation] aren’t that great.”

On the issue of jobs and the economy, “people really liked Newt’s message,” he added.

Exit polls in South Carolina conducted by Edison Research lent credence to this point of view.

Of the voters polled, 85 percent considered the economy or the federal budget deficit to be the issue that mattered most. Gingrich won the support of more voters in these categories than did any other candidate.

He also came out on top among voters who were “very worried” about the nation’s economy, comprising 79 percent of voters, according to the survey.

But of the 18 percent of voters who considered a strong moral character to be the candidate quality that matters most, Gingrich came in last place among candidates still in the race. He received just 6 percent of the vote.

“He’s not a strong moral character,” Friedman said.

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