Romney beating Perry in Arizona poll

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads Texas Gov. Rick Perry 31-25 in the GOP primary race among Arizona Republicans, a new poll showed.

No other candidate rose above the 5 percent mark in the survey by GOP pollster Summit Consulting Group, but 24 percent had yet to make up their minds.

Arizona has been a central focus for GOP candidates; Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has moved the state's primary up to Feb. 28 in hopes of bolstering Arizona's influence in the nominating process.

Romney and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) were in the state simultaneously last week and both met with controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio (R) of Maricopa County. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), the GOP front-runner for retiring Sen. Jon Kyl's seat, gave Romney his endorsement this week.

The poll of 600 likely Arizona GOP voters was conducted Sept. 19-20 and had a margin of error of four percentage points.