Rasmussen: Santorum sube al segundo puesto a nivel nacional

Rasmussen:

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, coming off his photo finish with Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses, is now in second place among Republican voters in the race for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, taken the night after the caucuses, shows Romney again in first place with support from 29% of Likely Republican Primary Voters, followed by Santorum with 21%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who led the pack in late November with 38% of the vote, now runs third with 16%. Texas Congressman Ron Paul, the third place finisher in Iowa, picks up 12% of the vote, up from eight percent (8%) in the previous survey.

The two remaining Republicans in the race, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, each earn four percent (4%), marking essentially no change from late November.

For Romney, however, his level of support has returned to where it was in October, after dropping to 23% at the beginning of November and 17% by month’s end as support for Gingrich surged among Republicans looking for a more conservative candidate to deny the former Massachusetts governor the nomination.

Santorum who many now see as the chief anti-Romney candidate has rocketed from four percent (4%) in the previous survey and one percent (1%) at the beginning of November.

Romney is now viewed favorably by 68% of Republican voters, closed followed by Santorum who is seen that way by 63%. Fifty-two percent (52%) have a favorable opinion of Gingrich. The other candidates have higher unfavorables than favorables among GOP voters – Perry (49%), Huntsman (47%) and Paul (59%). One-in-four voters (25%) still say they don’t know enough about Huntsman to even voice an opinion of him.