Those Grand Old Party members of Floyd County have decided that former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum is their favorite for the Georgia Republican Primary.

Floyd County GOP Chairman Dan Hanks said 89 votes were cast in the voluntary straw poll conducted during a Saturday precinct meeting to elect delegates and alternates to the county convention.

Out of those 89 votes, Hanks said Santorum nabbed 36 votes, or 40 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was a distant second with 22 votes, followed by Texas Congressman Ron Paul and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who had 18 and 13 votes, respectively.

Hanks said the results of the race didn’t surprise him much.

“I’ve heard that Santorum was moving up, so I wasn’t shocked at all that that’s what it was,” he said.

Floyd County Republican Women’s chairwoman Elaine Watson — who is also a Santorum supporter — said she felt part of the reason the vote was slanted more toward Santorum was not only from his recent momentum in national polls and victories in the Michigan, Minnesota and Missouri primaries but also because of the “gutter sniping” between Gingrich and Romney.

“Four years ago I was for Romney,” she said. “This time around I was for Gingrich, but I don’t like the back and forth. I don’t like the viciousness of it. I wish Newt would have refuted everything that was wrong and gone back to his positive message.”

She said that because of the way the ads have portrayed both candidates — and violating President Ronald Reagan’s golden 11th commandment of never attacking a fellow Republican, she felt more drawn toward the San­torum campaign.

Floyd County Tea Party co-founder Mike Morton — who is also a Santorum supporter — said he felt Santorum’s surge would continue in national and statewide polls, and although Santorum may not be the eventual nominee of the national party, Morton likes his message.

But Morton would also like to see more of the candidates here in Georgia before voters go to the primary polls in March.

“I think that Rick Santorum, along with the other candidates, have to get down here and campaign in Georgia and get their voices heard,” he said.

The day turned out well in Floyd County for San­torum, but not so well for Gingrich, who placed second with only 27 percent of the final tally. Layla Shipman, Gingrich’s representative for the Northwest Georgia area and also the Floyd County GOP publicity chair, said despite the disappointing results, local straw polls don’t dictate how the primary will turn out statewide.

“It’s a snapshot of what’s happened in a day,” she said. “At any given time any polls can result in any given way.”

She also said Gingrich still has a chance nationally since the currents of the election are continuously shifting.

“Santorum is leading the pack, and I think he’s a great conservative and a great man, but it shows that there is no presumptive front runner or candidate,” Shipman said.

Saturday’s meeting was attended by between 150 and 200 people, Hanks said.

“We’ve had many more people there than at many other meetings, so I think that just shows the level of dissatisfaction with Washington,” he said.