Poll: Santorum catches Romney nationally

Rick Santorum has overtaken Mitt Romney for the first time ever in Gallup’s national daily tracking poll.

Santorum now leads Romney 32 percent to 31 percent, although that’s a statistical tie considering the poll’s 4 percent margin of error. Newt Gingrich followed with 14 percent and Ron Paul came in at 10 percent.

Santorum has doubled his support, up 16 percent since winning last week’s trio of caucuses in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

The latest Gallup data was taken between Feb. 11 and Feb. 15, and includes Romney’s slim victory at the Maine caucuses on Feb. 11.

Santorum now leads in all of the major national polls by an average of 5.8 percent over Romney, according to Real Clear Politics.

It’s the latest troubling polling data for the Romney campaign.

Romney also trails Santorum in all of the latest Michigan polls, where he was at one time viewed as having an insurmountable home field advantage. Romney’s father, George Romney, was once governor of the state, and Romney maintains close ties there.

But recent polls in the Wolverine State, where voters will cast their ballots on Feb. 28, show Santorum pulling away with an average lead of 8.2 percent, according to Real Clear Politics.

While Romney still has a comfortable lead in the other Feb. 28 primary state of Arizona, an Ohio poll released by Rasmussen on Thursday shows Santorum trouncing the field by 18 percent.

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