Santorum Leads by 12 in Louisiana

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely GOP primary voters, taken the day after Mitt Romney’s win in Illinois, shows Rick Santorum with a 12-point lead over Romney in Louisiana (43 to 31 percent). If Santorum’s lead holds up, it will continue the trend of Romney winning Democratic-leaning states, Santorum winning Republican-leaning states (if they don’t border Utah), and the two candidates splitting swing states. 

Newt Gingrich is a distant third in the Bayou State, with 16 percent support, while Ron Paul has 5 percent support.

Rasmussen shows Santorum with a net favorability rating of +70 points (84 percent favorable, 14 percent unfavorable) among likely Louisiana GOP primary voters, while Romney has a net favorability rating of +45 points (72 percent favorable, 27 percent unfavorable).

The poll shows Santorum enjoying double-digits leads among women (but not men), voters under the age of 65, those who are married, Evangelicals, and Catholics.  He leads by a margin of 2 to 1 (48 to 24 percent) among Tea Party voters.