Rick Santorum has small lead over Mitt Romney in new national poll

By Shira Schoenberg, Globe Correspondent

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has surged into a virtual tie with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential race, according to a new national poll from the Pew Research Center.

The poll found Santorum with a slight edge over Romney among Republican-leaning voters, 30 percent to 28 percent. That represents a major reversal from just last month, when Romney led Santorum by 17 points.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich came in a distant third in the poll with 17 percent, followed by Texas Representative Ron Paul with 12 percent.

The poll was conducted Feb. 8-12, so likely reflected the strong surge of attention Santorum enjoyed after he won upset victories in three non-binding contests in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado last Tuesday.

Santorum has been propelled by strong support from Tea Party members and white evangelical voters, according to the poll. The poll found that 42 percent of Tea Party voters favor Santorum compared to 23 percent for Romney, and the numbers for evangelical voters were almost identical.

While voters overwhelmingly continue to see Romney as honest, trustworthy, and qualified to be president, only 42 percent believed he was a strong conservative, and 39 percent said he takes consistent positions on issues.

While past polling found Democratic President Obama and Romney in a tight race in a head-to-head matchup, the new poll found Obama would beat Romney by an eight-point margin. Obama would beat Santorum by 10 points and Gingrich by 18.

The poll of 1,501 adults and has a margin of error of between three and seven percentage points, depending on sample size used for each question.