A new poll shows Rick Santorum edging ahead of Mitt Romney in Ohio.
The Quinnipiac University poll out Wednesday finds Santorum jumping to the lead with Ohio voters just three weeks before the Republican presidential primary.
The former Pennsylvania senator leads Romney 36-29 percent among likely primary voters.
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich was third with 20 percent.
A Quinnipiac poll released last month had former Massachusetts Gov. Romney well ahead of Santorum. But that was before Santorum's sweep in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last week.
The latest telephone survey interviewed 553 likely Republican voters over the past week and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Ohio is one of two upcoming states where a Santorum victory could rock Romney's campaign and unseat him as the presumed front-runner. Michigan is the second, with the Feb. 28 primary looming. In polls, Santorum is leading there too but Romney is spending $1.3 million in the run-up to the primary, so whether that lead holds remains to be seen.
The Ohio Quinnipiac poll also questioned likely voters on whether Ohio Sen. Rob Portman would help any GOP presidential ticket:
"Pesident Barack Obama would get 46 percent of Ohio registered voters, to Romney’s 44 percent if the November election were today. ... Picking Ohio Sen. Rob Portman as Romney’s running mate would not help the GOP ticket carry Ohio’s crucial electoral votes in November as the Democratic ticket pulls slightly ahead 47 – 43 percent."
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