Santorum Leads Romney and Gingrich in Poll of Louisiana

Rick Santorum got a boost to his bid for the Republican presidential nomination last week when he won primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. A poll unveiled on Tuesday shows Santorum should be able to keep his momentum going down South though he is expected to lose the Illinois primary to Mitt Romney on Tuesday night. Santorum leads in Louisiana which holds its primary on Saturday.

A poll from Magellan Strategies of likely Louisiana Republican primary voters released on Tuesday finds Santorum leading with 37 percent followed by Romney and Newt Gingrich who garner 24 percent each. While 6 percent remain undecided, Ron Paul takes 3 percent, but so do two candidates no longer in the race -- Rick Perry and native son Buddy Roemer. Perry, the Texas governor who had the support of Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, pulled out of the race in January. Roemer, who served seven years in Congress before being elected governor of Louisiana, pulled out of the Republican race but will continue to run for the Americans Elect and Reform Party nominations.

The poll of 2,018 likely Republican primary voters was taken on March 19 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.18 percent.