Mitt Romney Tops the GOP Field in National Poll

While his team is trying to temper expectations for Tuesdays primaries in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Mitt Romney leads the field of candidates battling it out for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national poll of likely GOP primary voters.

Romney -- who leads polls in Colorado -- tops the field with 34 percent, while Newt Gingrich placed second with 27 percent. Rick Santorum -- who leads Romney in Minnesota and Missouri -- stands in third with 18 percent, while Ron Paul takes fourth with 11 percent. Seven percent remain undecided, while 3 percent support other candidates.

Two weeks ago -- after his big win in South Carolina over Romney -- Gingrich led a national Rasmussen poll with 35 percent, followed by Romney with 28 percent. Since then, Romney scored decisive wins in the Florida primary and the Nevada caucus.

When pitted against the field in one-on-one matches, Romney holds solid leads over the other candidates. Gingrich comes closest but still falls up short, trailing Romney by 6 percent. Romney does even better against the other two hopefuls. He beats Santorum by 12 percent and buries Paul by 28 percent.

The poll of 1,000 likely primary voters was taken on Feb. 6 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.