A day ahead of the Illinois Republican primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appears poised for a blowout victory, according to the results of a Public Policy Polling survey released on Monday.
The poll found that 45 percent of likely primary voters would vote for Romney, while 30 percent said they would vote for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich comes in a distant third at 12 percent, while Texas Congressman Ron Paul comes in fourth at 10 percent.
PPP noted that along with strong support from suburban and urban voters, Romney is also slightly ahead of Santorum among rural voters, a group that he hasn't tended to do that well with in the past.
While Santorum is leading among Tea Partiers, Evangelicals, and those describing themselves as "very conservative," PPP said he's not winning them by the kinds of margins he would need to secure victory.
PPP also said that Santorum can't blame Gingrich for his troubles in Illinois, as the poll found that Romney would still have an 11-point lead if Gingrich was out of the race.
The survey of 506 likely Republican primary voters was conducted on March 17th and 18th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
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