Santorum Takes Lead in Gallup’s National Polling
Rick Santorum, who trailed Mitt Romney by 20 points eight days ago, has now taken the lead in Gallup’s national polling. In the Gallup poll released on February 8, Romney led Santorum by the tally of 37 to 17 percent. In the current Gallup poll, Santorum has moved into the lead — 32 to 31 percent.
Newt Gingrich has 14 percent support in the latest poll (taken from February 11th to 15th), down from 21 percent eight days ago. Ron Paul has 10 percent support, down 2 points from eight days ago.
The poll released on February 8th, which showed Romney leading by 20 points, was the first Gallup poll taken entirely after Romney’s 14-point win on January 31st in the Florida primary. However, the night before that poll was released, exactly one week after Florida, Santorum had scored a surprise hat trick in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado, in the process winning all 114 counties in Missouri and 82 of the 87 counties in Minnesota. Since then, as was anticipated in some quarters, Santorum’s level of support in Gallup has almost doubled, while Romney’s has dropped 6 points.
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