Utah Republicans are fed up with Sen. Mitt Romney, according to a survey released on Wednesday.
A poll from OH Predictive Insights found 63% of registered Republican voters in the state would rather have someone else from the party representing them, compared to 35% who stand with Mr. Romney, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee.
“In the 2012 Presidential election, Mitt Romney earned the largest share of the vote in Utah of any Republican presidential candidate since Reagan in 1984,” said Mike Noble, chief of research for OH Predictive Insights. “The data shows that Utahns’ opinions have flipped since 2012 — with two-thirds of GOP voters preferring a Republican senator other than Mitt Romney, he is more vulnerable than ever in a primary election.”
Mr. Romney has some time to improve his image: He is up for reelection in 2024.
The former Massachusetts governor has emerged as a polarizing figure in Republican politics, particularly among supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Romney has been an outspoken critic of Mr. Trump. He was the sole Republican to vote to convict the former president on the charge of abuse of power, in his first impeachment trial, and was among the seven Senate Republicans who voted this year to convict Mr. Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
So far, the approach isn’t paying off in his political backyard, where 58% of GOP voters said there is room for Mr. Trump in the party, compared to 42% who said the same about Mr. Romney.
The mounting frustration with Mr. Romney was on clear display earlier this year after he was booed and heckled on stage while delivering an address at the Utah GOP convention.
The survey included 337 registered Republicans and had a margin of error of 5.3 percentage points