W. Post's Blake Takes Broke Buzz Down a Notch

W. Post's Aaron Blake looks at the polls and suggests the broke buzz is overhyped:

While it’s become clear that many in the GOP are seeking an alternative to the prohibitive favorite, it’s also pretty clear that Romney is an acceptable alternative if and when it comes time for the party to embrace him.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows 61 percent of Republicans view Romney favorably and just 18 percent view him unfavorably. That may not be as high as he or his supporters would like, but well more than a majority of Republicans say they like Romney and, it would seem to follow, would vote for him.

Romney hasn’t risen much in the polls, passing 30 percent in the Gallup national tracking poll for the first time just this week. But that doesn’t mean that the remaining two-thirds of Republicans won’t vote for him. Indeed, most of them probably would.

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'It will take another candidate not only winning, but winning more than once to make this about the delegates,' said Josh Putnam of the great Frontloading HQ blog ..."

Blake doesn't take into account the anecdotal evidence that a growing number of conservatives are agitating for a brokered convention.

But it's certainly true that someone else has to eventually win a primary to force one. And that means a significant faction of conservatives actually coalescing around someone else.