Poll: Romney slightly ahead of Santorum in Illinois.

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney's campaign has long considered Illinois to be in its win column, but a new Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows the candidate has some work to do to make that a reality.

The survey found Romney slightly ahead of Rick Santorum, 35 percent to 31 percent — within the poll's 4-percentage-point margin of error. Trailing far behind were Newt Gingrich with 12 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul with 7 percent. Another 16 percent were undecided.

There's room for movement ahead of Illinois' March 20 primary, however. Fully 46 percent of voters said they could still change their minds before the election.

The survey of 600 confirmed registered voters likely to vote in the Illinois Republican primary was conducted Wednesday through Friday, prior to Santorum winning Kansas' GOP caucuses.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-illinois-poll-20120311,0,1617767.story