Mitt Romney has to mend gaps in the Republican voter base among Midwesterners, young voters, the highly religious, and conser...

Darius Dixon
Politico Contributor

Mitt Romney has to mend gaps in the Republican voter base among Midwesterners, young voters, the highly religious, and conservative Republicans, according to a Thursday Gallup poll.

While Romney led among voters 35-years-old and over in the GOP primaries, he was a relatively weak draw for the Republican youth vote, which Ron Paul galvanized, the survey says.

Moreover, despite holding double-digit leads over the other major Republican presidential candidates in every other region of the U.S., interest in Romney dipped among Midwestern Republicans who were previously drawn to Rick Santorum in considerable numbers.

Romney also has a lot of work ahead of him when it comes to weekly church-goers, the survey says.

“Highly religious Republicans have clearly been looking for a candidate who will specifically and directly address their concerns about social, family, and values issues,” Gallup says.

And Romney has fences to mend and relationships to expand among conservative Republicans who split for Santorum. Romney had a 31-point lead among moderate and liberal Republicans.

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 2-8, 2012, on the Gallup Daily tracking survey, with a random sample of 1,440 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, who are registered to vote. There is a 4-point margin of error.