Rick Santorum Rises in a National Poll

Former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorums strong showing in Iowa -- where he finished eight votes behind former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts -- has vaulted from dark-horse candidate into the national spotlight and propelled him in a national poll released on Thursday.

Romney leads the Rasmussen Reports poll of likely Republican primary voters with 29 percent while Santorum stands in second with 21 percent. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who led the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls in a Rasmussen poll released at the end of November, placed third with 16 percent. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas takes fourth with 12 percent of those surveyed. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah lag behind with 4 percent each.

Romney is seen as the Republican most likely to defeat President Barack Obama in November. Of those surveyed, 44 percentsee Romney as the strongest candidate to take on Obama in the general election; 17 percent see Gingrich as the best candidate to challenge Obama, while 15 percent think Santorum is the strongest Republican to take on the Democrat incumbent. Only 6 percent think Paul has the best chance to defeat Obama in the general election.

The poll of 1,000 likely Republican primary voters was taken Jan. 4 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.