fear of the assad regime. a rear window inside a brutal crackdown. i want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m blitz and you re in the situation room. a tightening race heading in to south carolina s republican primary one week from today. a new american research group poll of likely primary voters in that state puts mitt romney on top but, but in a statistical tie with newt gingrich who is just ahead of ron paul. the texas congressman has surged in south carolina from 9% just a week ago while rick santorum has taken the biggest hit down from 24% last week to 7%. joe johns is joining us in south carolina right now following that increasingly bitter battle in the state. joe, what s going on right now, look ahead a little bit. this will be a tough week. reporter: that s true, wolf. the 30,000-foot view here is all about independent expenditures being made by so-called super p.a.c.s breathing fresh new life into campaigns that may be on lif
enthusiasm standpoint. 300,000 democrats turned out in iowa. less than hatch of that turned out for republicans. so they will have an thus am problem. but the obama campaign built a significant grassroots operation in iowa, probably better than mitt romney did. they are together same thing state by state as the republicans move throughout their primary process. and this president is very well liked similar to ronald reagan. even as you look at the disapproval ratings. people trust him. i think this election will come down to trust, especially if mitt romney is the republican. megyn: she talked about enthusiasm for president obama in 2008, and there is no question it was there. but this is not 2008. the president has a 42% approval
in iowa tuesday. there is also a big gap from an enthusiasm standpoint. 300,000 democrats turned out in iowa. less than hatch of that turned out for republicans. so they will have an thus am problem. but the obama campaign built a significant grassroots operation in iowa, probably better than mitt romney did. they are together same thing state by state as the republicans move throughout their primary process. and this president is very well liked similar to ronald reagan. even as you look at the disapproval ratings. people trust him. i think this election will come down to trust, especially if mitt romney is the republican. megyn: she talked about enthusiasm for president obama in 2008, and there is no question it was there.
romney cadry for a long time and they may coalesce around rick san totorum santorum. but we had 7,500 people to volunteer with the campaign and we re coming out of iowa with a strong grassroots operation. we used the organizing opportunity last night to move forward and put together a grassroots campaign. you re also coming out of iowa with a low approval rating for the president. you look at the numbers and i think we have it on a graphic for you. 49% approve, disapproval is 48%. that s low. well, every poll nationally that s been done shows head-to-head that the president beats any of the republicans running. that s because he stood up for the middle class that s my question. so, with a low approval number for the president, what is being done? even with a relatively low approval rating, he still beats any of the republicans in the field head-to-head because
cafe. and official, a few hours ago, mitt romney, 30,015 votes. santorum om eight votes behind, and both candidates coming out to speak before the final votes came in last night. romney moved on. his eyes on the big prize. take a listen. you are working, i am working and we re all working together because of our passion for this country and a concern led by a president who may be a nice guy but just is over his head, and i look at his campaign you know, four years ago tonight he was giving a victory celebration speech here in des moines, and he d been going across the state making all sorts of promises. the gap between his promises four years ago and his performance is as great as anything i ve ever seen in my life. mitt romney, he was talking there about president barack obama, but, really, it s rick santorum who he s talking to, we ll speak to, a big endorsement from john mccain and he beat mitt romney back in 2008. and coming up just short built on that traditional