Mitt Romney Breaks Ahead of Rick Santorum in National Poll

Fresh off his wins in the Arizona and Michigan primaries on Tuesday, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has taken a commanding lead over his rivals for the GOP nomination in a national poll unveiled Thursday by Rasmussen Reports.

The poll of likely primary votes has Romney taking 40 percent and Rick Santorum in second with 24 percent. This is Romneys largest lead in a Rasmussen Reports poll this election cycle and a dramatic change from their poll taken two weeks ago after Santorum won contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. Santorum took 39 percent in that poll while Romney placed second with 27 percent.

Newt Gingrich takes third in the new poll with 16 percent followed by Ron Paul with 12 percent while 2 percent back other candidates and 6 percent remain undecided.

The poll of 1,000 likely Republican primary voters was taken on Feb. 29 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.