Poll: Romney widens lead over Santorum

(CNN) - A new national poll released Thursday indicates Mitt Romney has expanded his lead over Rick Santorum and now holds an 11 percentage point advantage over the former Pennsylvania senator.

Romney has the backing of 35% of registered Republicans nationwide, while Santorum comes in with 24%, according to results from Gallup's latest daily tracking poll.

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The new poll reflects a reversal in the top two spots from a week ago, when Santorum came in first place with 34% and Romney had 24%.

Romney retook the top spot on Sunday for the first time in 11 days with a narrow two-point margin over Santorum and has since seen rising poll numbers.

The latest poll was conducted Saturday through Wednesday, a time window that includes one day of polling after Romney pulled two much-needed wins in Michigan and Arizona on Tuesday.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich comes in third place with 15% in the new survey, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul takes fourth at 11%.

For the ongoing poll, Gallup surveys more than 1,000 registered Republican voters on a daily basis. The poll drops the oldest of five days each day and adds results from the most recent day of polling.

In the latest survey, Gallup questioned 1,171 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents by telephone between February 25 and February 29. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

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