Rasmussen: Santorum to Crush Romney in Louisiana

Mitt Romney’s march to the Republican presidential nomination looks sure to hit a roadblock this weekend in Louisiana, according to a new poll from Rasmussen Reports.

A survey of likely primary voters gives Rick Santorum a 12-percentage point lead over the former Massachusetts governor.

Editor's Note: Do You Like Romney, Santorum, Gingrich or Paul?  Vote Now in This Urgent Poll.

Santorum is up by 43 percent to 31 percent, according to the poll conducted on Wednesday. Newt Gingrich has 16 percent with Ron Paul trailing on 5 percent.

The news gets even worse for Romney if Gingrich and Paul are taken out of the equation. In that scenario, 57 percent say they would vote for Santorum, while 37 percent go for Romney.

But there is some good news for the Republican front-runner in the Rasmussen figures. More than 9 out of 10 Republicans say they would vote for Romney in the general election if he is the eventual nominee. Only 3 percent said they would vote for President Barack Obama, while another 3 percent said they would go for a third party candidate and a further 3 percent were unsure.

And when the Louisiana voters are asked who is going to win the nomination, more than four times as many people – 73 percent to 17 percent – believe it will be Romney rather than the former Pennsylvania senator. According to the Associated Press, Romney is now nearly half way to the magic 1,144 number of delegates, leading Santorum by 563 to 263 with Gingrich on 135 and Paul on 50.

Editor's Note: Do You Like Romney, Santorum, Gingrich or Paul?  Vote Now in This Urgent Poll.

The Rasmussen figures back up a poll in the Pelican State taken over the weekend by Magellan Strategies, which gave Santorum a 13-point edge over Romney. Louisiana is generally seen as Santorum’s best hope for a victory until his home state of Pennsylvania votes in a primary on April 24.

Rasmussen Reports president Scott Rasmussen told Newsmax on Wednesday that he considers that Wisconsin, which goes to the polls in a primary on April 3, is the only other state to vote before May in which Santorum has a chance of winning. He said the results of a Rasmussen poll from the Badger State will be released within the next day or so.