A new Rasmussen poll shows that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has a double digit lead ahead of Louisiana’s Republican primary vote, set for Saturday March 24th. Santorum gets 43 percent in the snap poll conducted Wednesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sees 31, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 13 and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) five.
But despite the fact a plurality of state Republicans are poised to go for Santorum, most are resigned to Romney as the party’s eventual nominee. From Rasmussen’s analysis:
Despite Santorum’s lopsided lead, 73% of Pelican State Republicans expect Romney to be the eventual GOP nominee. Just 17% predict that Santorum will be the GOP standard-bearer. It’s a lot closer, however, when they’re asked who would be the strongest candidate against President Obama: 40% say Romney, while 32% believe Santorum is that candidate. Only 19% feel that way about Gingrich.
Eighty-four percent (84%) of all GOP primary voters in the state think Romney is at least somewhat likely to beat Obama, and 75% believe the same of Santorum. Fifty-eight percent (58%) feel Gingrich is likely to win. But voters express a lot more confidence in Romney when you look closer at these numbers: 51% say he is Very Likely to win, compared to 36% and 29% who say that of Santorum and Gingrich respectively.
