Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum leads the GOP pack in a national poll unveiled on Wednesday.
Santorum tops a national poll fromQuinnipiac University with 35 percent, followed by Mitt Romney with 26 percent. Newt Gingrich stands in third with 14 percent, followed by Ron Paul with 11 percent. When pitted head-to-head, Santorum takes 50 percent and Romney garners 37 percent.
Rick Santorum's lead among Republican voters and GOP-leaning independents is built on the votes of Republican men, tea party supporters and white evangelical Christians," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Santorum is riding the momentum wave from his trifecta of victories in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota, but so far this year, momentum from one week has been a much-overhyped asset by the time the next round of voting comes along."
Santorum demolishes Romney among white evangelicals, taking 45 percent of them, while the former Massachusetts governor has the support of 19 percent. Among supporters of the tea party movement, Santorum takes 47 percent while Romney garners 16 percent. Santorum also beats Romney with voters of both genders, leading 35 percent to 24 percent among men and 34 percent to 28 percent among women.
"The controversy about Santorum's remarks about women in combat and birth control doesn't seem to be hurting him among Republican women, at least not much," Brown said.
Asked if one of the current candidates should be nominated, 48 percent of the Republicans surveyed said yes but 37 percent said they prefer another candidate winning the nomination. If a new candidate is chosen, New Jersey Chris Christie is the top alternative candidate, winning the support of 32 percent. Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska tie for second with 20 percent each, followed by Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana with 15 percent.
"Governor Chris Christie remains the knight on the white horse in many Republican minds," Brown said.
When expanded to include all voters, the poll finds that a majority -- 55 percent -- disapprove of the way President Barack Obama has managed the economy. Despite this, he holds small leads over his two leading Republican challengers, beating Romney 46 percent to 44 percent and Santorum 47 percent to 44 percent. The poll has Obama leading the Republicans with independent voters. The Democrat incumbent has a 5 percent lead over Romney with independents and a 10 percent lead over Santorum with them.
The poll of 2,605 voters was taken from Feb. 14- 20 and had a margin of error of +/- 1.9 percent. This includes a sample of 1,124 Republican primary voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
