Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has taken the lead in GOP rival Rick Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania, according to the results of a new Public Policing Polling poll released Wednesday.
The poll showed that 42 percent of likely Pennsylvania primary voters said they would vote for Romney, while 37 percent said they would vote for Santorum, a former two-term Pennsylvania Senator.
The numbers have changed significantly from just a month ago as the April 24th Pennsylvania primary approaches. Support for Romney has jumped by 17 percentage points, climbing from 25 percent to 42 percent.
Meanwhile, support for Santorum has dropped 6 percentage points from 43 percent to 37 percent, according to Public Policy Polling.
Santorum has said that the primary in his home state is a "must win."
"The people of Pennsylvania know me," Santorum said Wednesday on the campaign trail. "We've got a strong base of support here and we're going to work very, very hard."
Among Pennsylvania Republicans, only 36 percent of voters think Santorum has a realistic chance at the nomination compared to 54 percent who believe he does not. In a hypothetical general election match-up, the poll found that 24 percent of Republicans think Santorum would be their best chance for a White House victory, while 49 percent believe that Romney is the best choice to go against President Barack Obama.
"Obviously the race is still tight enough in Pennsylvania that Santorum could yet win," Public Policy Polling wrote. "But the momentum is going completely against him and it looks like Romney will have the chance to strike a final crushing blow on April 24th."
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