Santorum and Obama neck and neck in Pennsylvania, poll shows

Cutting into Mitt Romney’s electability argument, Rick Santorum is statistically tied in a head-to-head matchup with President Obama in Pennsylvania. And the former Pennsylvania senator leads the Republican pack in the state.

Obama has 45% to Santorum’s 44%, according to a poll released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University. Obama tops Romney 46% to 40%, Gingrich 50% to 37% and Ron Paul 45% to 40%.

Meanwhile, on the heels of a group of establishment Republicans endorsing Romney in Harrisburg this week, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge declared his support for the former Massachusetts governor Wednesday morning.

Ridge, who served as the nation’s first Homeland Security secretary, was an early supporter of presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman. Huntsman, after dropping out, threw his weight behind Romney.

“Having spent most my life in public service, as a soldier, as a congressman, as a governor of Pennsylvania, as a White House official, and as a secretary of Homeland Security, I’ve met accomplished and strong leaders in my life. Mitt Romney is one of them. He would bring to the presidency an extraordinary set of skills,” Ridge said in a statement sent out by the Romney campaign.

Romney can use all the help he can get in Pennsylvania, where the state’s former U.S. senator, Santorum, is leading by double digits there ahead of the April 24 primary.

The new poll found Santorum with 36% of registered Republican support and 22% for Romney.

The poll was conducted March 7 through Monday and surveyed 1, 256 registered voters and includes 508 registered Republicans.

Tim Malloy, Quinnipiac pollster, said Santorum’s standing among both the Republican electorate and the statewide electorate was “remarkable” given his dramatic ouster from the Senate by Democrat Bob Casey in 2006.

“It is an eye-opener,” he said. “Santorum is a comeback kid in his own state.”

Despite taking controversial stands on abortion and other family issues, Santorum leads Romney 41% to 18% among GOP women voters, a success that Malloy ascribes to his image as a family man.

“He’s young. He’s got that family standing behind him. He has that child who is ill. He’s different in that regard,” he said. “And these are Republican women,” who tend to be strong on family issues.

The poll results are also compelling for the Santorum campaign’s argument that Newt Gingrich should step aside and let him challenge Romney alone. When matched head-to-head in Pennsylvania, Santorum trumps Romney 52% to 32%.

Despite Santorum’s statistical tie with Obama in a head-to-head match, Obama outperforms all four current GOP candidates when voters are asked which of them is the most in touch with their needs. A clear majority, 54%, of voters say the Democratic president “cares about the needs and problems” of Americans.

Forty-eight percent answer the same way about Santorum, compared to just 31% for Romney and 29% for former House Speaker Gingrich. Paul, a Texas congressman, does best — with half of voters saying he is most in touch with their concerns.

Nonetheless, Malloy says Santorum’s blue-collar work ethic and his well-trod links to Pennsylvania’s coal mining past serves him well.

“He hasn’t been branded as an elitist as some accuse Mitt Romney [of being]. Nor is he the insider as some accuse Newt Gingrich of being,” he said.

Also Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, an annual meeting of conservatives in the state, announced that Santorum would be attending their meeting in Harrisburg on March 24. Other high profile Republicans scheduled to be in attendance are Herman Cain, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and Grover Norquist.