Santorum Opens Up 10-Point National Lead Over Romney

Rick Santorum's campaign received some more good news Tuesday in the form of the latest national GOP poll: He's up 10 points on Mitt Romney

According to Gallup's daily tracking poll (which averages the most recent five days), Santorum leads Romney, 36 percent to 26 percent, with Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul rounding out the field with 13 percent and 11 percent respectively. Santorum's 10-point lead is the largest he's ever held in his brief run atop the national Republican polls.

Gallup's data shows Santorum gaining momentum since his surprising wins in Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri earlier this month. On February 6, the day before his rather shocking sweep, Santorum trailed Romney by 21 percentage points. At the end of last week, Santorum was within two percentage points of Romney, 30 percent to 32 percent, and this week he's in the lead.

That's despite trailing Romney in terms of perceived electability. A second Gallup poll, conducted on behalf of USA Today and also released Tuesday, shows that 54 percent of Americans believe Romney is the most capable of beating President Obama in November, with only 29 percent believing the same of Santorum. Among Republicans, 58 percent believed Romney was the most electable against Obama, compared to 32 percent for Santorum. 

So how does a less electable candidate take the lead in voter preference? Gallup found that 3-in-10 of voters who believe Romney is the most electable indicate that they'll vote for Santorum anyway, indicating that at least some GOP voters aren't choosing their preferred nominee based on the candidate's chances to oust Obama. That doesn't bode well for Romney, who has been running on his experience and electability this primary season.