There was a brief moment last year when the national press was under the impression that Mr Mitt Romney would become the next Secretary of State.
In November 2016, then still President-elect Trump invited him for a dinner where they were joined by Mr Reince Preibus. The world watched as the once political rivals sat down for a meal. But nothing came from it after that.
Mr Romney went silent for a few months until after the summer of this year, when he announced that he would like to run for Utah’s senate place should Mr Orrin Hatch want to retire.
Today, Utahns say they agree with him. The Salt Lake Tribune conducted a poll and 75% of them don’t want to see Mr Hatch run again. They do agree that Mr Romney should.
Pollster Dan Jones commented: “Voters are saying, ‘Please don’t run again.’ Many have fond memories of Senator Hatch, but they feel the time has come for him to step aside.”
Atop the list of who Utahns think should run, as said, was former GOP presidential nominee Mr Mitt Romney with 44 percent support, followed distantly by Democratic candidate Jenny Wilson at 15 percent. Current Senator Hatch only came in third at 8 percent.
Political Science Professor Matthew Burbank of the University of Utah agrees with Mr Romney going for the Senate seat, up to a certain point: “If he gets the nomination, he will win the election absolutely. But the big task is getting the nomination. Is there enough discontent among Republicans that people will step up and run against him?”
According to Mr Burbank, the poll shows that “people really don’t want Hatch to run again. He doesn’t seem to fit the mood of the times. He’s been in Washington a long time. And, of course, a lot of Republicans think it would be nice to run, but they don’t want to run against Hatch.”
Of course, Mr Hatch’s political advisers still want him to go for it. Mr Dave Hansen, his
his former campaign manager, claims the poll “probably don’t mean a heck of a lot to his decision” about whether or not to run one last time. “He has said he will make a decision based on his health, his wife’s health and whether he feels like he can make a difference for the state of Utah.”
The poll was taken from 605 registered voters and held between October 10th and 13th.
Source:
Romney is indeed better than Hatch, not much better, but a bit.