Daily Kos Elections Polling Wrap: Rick Santorum's surge, act II

For those wondering how long it would be after the Santorum Sweep on Tuesday before we would see tangible evidence of a bounce, this tweet from PPP's Tom Jensen really ought to suffice:

We put a national poll in the field today and pretty clear your new leader is Rick Santorum.

As the kids say, the shit just got real on the Republican side.

Most of today's polling releases don't reflect the same surge too much, since the bulk of these polls were in the field before Santorum hit the trifecta on Tuesday. But you see some signs, including the first time in a poll in eons that Santorum has claimed a primary lead in his home state of Pennsylvania (which, dare I say, may prove relevant despite its position towards the end of the primary calendar).

NATIONAL (Gallup Tracking): Romney 36, Gingrich 20, Santorum 20, Paul 10

MICHIGAN (Mitchell Research): Romney 31, Gingrich 16, Paul 15, Santorum 15

PENNSYLVANIA (Susquehanna Research): Santorum 30, Romney 29, Gingrich 13, Paul 9

We also see a little tangible evidence of a Santorum bump in the general election numbers, albeit from Rasmussen. Rasmussen seems to be especially bearish on the Romney electability factor this week. Yesterday, they had Newt Gingrich outperforming Romney nationally (which, honestly, does not seem credible). Today, they had Santorum outperforming Romney in Ohio (which is exponentially more believable).

NATIONAL (Rasmussen): Obama d. Romney (48-42)

ILLINOIS (Chicago Tribune/WGN): Obama d. Romney (56-35); Obama d. Gingrich (58-30)

NORTH CAROLINA (PPP): Obama d. Romney (47-46); Obama d. Santorum (48-46); Obama d. Gingrich (50-45); Obama d. Paul (47-41)

OHIO (Rasmussen): Obama tied with Santorum (44-44); Obama d. Romney (45-41)

PENNSYLVANIA (Susquehanna Research): Romney d. Obama (45-43); Obama d. Santorum (47-43)

Some thoughts on the legitimacy of the Santorum bounce, right after the jump.