Rick Santorum, others politicians Klout-bombed by social media community

Twitter and Facebook users are giving Republican presidential nominee hopefuls some odd topics of influence on Klout.

Klout users have chosen “homophobia” as an influential topic for three GOP nominee hopefuls: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.

“Drag Queen” and “Cloth Diapers” are listed on Ron Paul’s Klout topics page, while social media users claim Gingrich is most-infuential about cheating, divorce, lobbying and Chuck Norris (the actor endorsed Newt Gingrich in January).

But the candidate catching the worst of the Klout-bombing would be Santorum, with “Diaper,” “Racism” and “Sweater” listed on his influence page. Also posted is “Google,” a nod to the campaign “Spreading Santorum” that attempted to make his name synonymous with an unmentionable byproduct.

Social users weren’t kinder to President Barack Obama — who boasts a higher score than his four potential rivals. “Cheating” and “Fascism” were listed on his Klout influence page.

Klout allows for a total of 20 topics to be selected by the community. Users can manually remove topics that they don’t believe reflect their true influence on social platforms.

[h/t @RossNeumann, @JosephStash]

Poll: Illinois favors Romney over others ahead of primary

A new Public Policy Polling survey has Mitt Romney pulling ahead in the Illinois primary race for the GOP presidential nominee.

Results of a survey released on Monday show 45% of those polled prefer Romney to rivals Rick Santorum (30%), Newt Gingrich (12%) and Ron Paul (10%).

Other results:

— 57% of those polled said they had a favorable view of Romney
— 46% had a favorable view of Gingrich; 43% had an unfavorable view
— 55% had a favorable view of Santorum
— 54% had an unfavorable view of Paul

Other results not necessarily pertaining to the GOP race:

— 65% had an unfavorable view of the city of Chicago
— 39% thought President Obama was a Muslim; 24% said Christian
— 36% thought President Obama was born outside of the United States
— 36% also thought President Obama was born inside the United States
— 43% said they did not believe in the theory of evolution
— 16% thought interracial marriage should be illegal

Those surveyed identified as 79% Republican, 17% Independent and 4% Democrat. [Full results here]

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Ann Romney, wife of GOP presidential nominee hopeful Mitt Romney, told FOX News commentator Neil Cavuto on Monday that she doesn’t consider herself to be “wealthy.” [FOX News Channel]