Rick Santorum served for 12 years as a very conservative senator from the big perennial swing state of Pennsylvania, only to lose re-election by an 18-point landslide in 2006. And as a new Quinnipiac poll suggests, if nominated for president he would again lose Pennsylvania — and not only that, but he’s not even the strongest Republican against Obama, nor is he even the favorite of Pennsylvania GOP voters for the nomination.
The poll for the Republican primary gives Mitt Romney the plurality with 21%, followed by Santorum at 16%. Sarah Palin follows with 11%, Herman Cain 8%, Ron Paul 6%, Michele Bachmann 5%, Newt Gingrich 5%, Tim Pawlenty 4%, and Jon Huntsman 1%.
For the general election, President Obama leads Santorum by 49%-38%. Mitt Romney actually does slightly better than Santorum, only trailing Obama by 47%-40%.
The poll was conducted from June 7-12. The sub-sample of Pennsylvania Republicans has a ±4.3% margin of error. The wider survey of registered Pennsylvania voters has a ±2.7% margin of error.
