Poll: 65% now expect Romney to be nominee

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 65% of Likely U.S. Voters believe Romney is likely to win the GOP nomination. That’s up from 54% a week earlier. Just 14% expect Romney’s leading rival, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, to emerge as the party’s standard-bearer, down from 24% in the previous survey.

Only five percent (5%) think former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be the Republican nominee, and four percent (4%) predict Texas Congressman Ron Paul will be the eventual winner. Three percent (3%) say some other candidate is likely to be nominated, and eight percent (8%) are undecided. These findings are little changed from those in late February.