Wall Street Willie Still Dropping Nationally

Before his three-state victory on February 7th, Rick Santorum was in third place in the Gallup Election Tracking Poll with only 16% national support. Meanwhile, Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) was riding high after victories in Florida and Nevada. But things have radically changed in less than two weeks.

The latest Gallup Poll (taken between February 14th and 18th) has Santorum leading the field, and currently enjoying an 8 point lead over Wall Street Willie. In just the last four days, Santorum has gained 5 points while Romney has dropped 5 points. It looks like the teabaggers and evangelicals think they've finally found a candidate that can beat Romney. Here are the Gallup numbers:

Rick Santorum...............36%
Mitt Romney...............28%
Newt Gingrich...............13%
Ron Paul...............11%

The RealClearPolitics 5-poll average verifies Santorum's lead nationally (although they have the lead at 5.4 points). They averaged the five latest polls (Gallup, Rasmussen, CNN/ORC, Pew, and CBS/NY Times) and here are the national numbers they came up with:

Rick Santorum...............33.8%
Mitt Romney...............28.4%
Newt Gingrich...............14.0%
Ron Paul...............12.2%

All five of those polls that were averaged showed Santorum with a lead. This makes it imperative for Romney to do well in Michigan and Arizona on February 28th. Polls currently have Romney trailing in Michigan, and losing support (but still leading) in Arizona. A loss in either of these two states (which he led by large margins not too long ago) would be devastating for the Romney campaign.