Poll finds Romney surging nationally

Mitt Romney is pulling away from the pack and has reached his highest level of support nationally, according to Gallup’s daily tracking poll of registered Republicans.

Romney came in at 34 percent, followed by Rick Santorum at 15 percent, Newt Gingrich at 14 percent, Ron Paul at 13 percent, Rick Perry at 5 percent and Jon Huntsman at 2 percent.

The only candidate to poll higher was Gingrich back in early December, when he peaked at 37 percent. The former House Speaker has been on a sharp downward course ever since.

Romney and Gingrich began the year in a dead heat at 24 percent and 23 percent respectively, but their trajectories have since gone in opposite directions.

The Gallup poll, which was conducted between Jan. 7 and Jan. 11, is the first to incorporate survey data from after the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary, which Romney won overwhelmingly.

Prior to the primary, Romney had settled in around the 30 percent range, but has surged 4 points in the days leading up to and following his victory, despite furious attacks from his rivals over his time as an executive at Bain Capital.

Gingrich has lost 4 points in that same timeframe, and Santorum, who spiked in the polls after his surprising second-place finish in Iowa, in which he lost to Romney by only eight votes, has fallen 3 percent since then.

The Gallup poll has a 3 percent margin of error.

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