Santorum rides rural vote to wins in Ala., Miss.

Stronger turnout in rural areas gave former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania narrow victories in the Republican presidential primaries in Alabama and Mississippi tonight, CNN reported. We offer exit-poll results with a caveat: Those polls suggested that former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts would win. (Reuters photo)

In Alabama, with virtually all the votes counted, Santorum had 35 percent of the total vote to 29 percent each for Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a native of adjoining Georgia. Santorum got an estimated 34 percent of the vote deemed rural by the pollsters, while Gingrich got 30 percent and Romney got 29. Voters identified as rural made up 42 percent of those polled. Santorum narrowly carried urban voters, 37-35 over Romney, while Gingrich carried suburbs 35-32 over Santorum. For the full exit poll results from Alabama, click here.

In Mississippi, the pollsters said only 3 percent of the Republican vote was urban and 55 percent was rural. Not surprisingly, among the voters deemed rural, Santorum got the same as his statewide total, 33 percent. Santorum also carried the suburbs, 34 percent to 31 for Gingrich and 29 for Romney. For the full exit poll results from Mississippi, go here. UPDATE, March 14: For an analysis of the actual votes, from Bill Bishop of the Daily Yonder, go here.