A Middle Tennessee State University survey shows former Rick Santorum has a strong lead over other Republican candidates for the presidential nomination, while President Barack Obama's approval numbers are around the norm for that state.
The poll, released on Wednesday, shows Santorum would handily best Mitt Romney, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich.
Here's a by-the-numbers look at the poll.
40: Santorum received 40 percent of the support of Republicans surveyed. Romney held 19 percent, Gingrich 13, and Paul 11 percent.
23.2: The preferred winner from likely voters is Santorum again, with 23.2 percent of the vote to Romney's 19.6 percent. Gingrich and Paul each receive 9.5 percent while "someone else" would have 20 percent. Another 16.4 percent don't know who they'd support.
44.4: In a hypothetical match-up, Santorum would beat President Obama with 44.4 percent of the vote to 38.8.
42.9: Romney would barely edge out President Obama with 42.9 percent of the vote. Obama shows 39.2 percent of the survey's support.
40: The president is in a dead heat with Congressman Paul, each with 40 percent of the potential vote. He would beat Gingrich with 41.7 percent to the 38.8 percent carried by Gingrich. All four polls are fairly close and within the margin of potential error.
32.1: When asked what the main state problems were, 32.1 percent said unemployment and jobs were at the top of the list. Other issues that could affect the election are education with 16.6 percent of the vote, the economy in general with 14.6 and government waste and inefficiency with 5.9 percent.
38.3: President Obama's approval is at 38.8 percent and his disapproval is at 51.2 percent. MTSU refers to this number as being around the norm for the state.
646: The poll was conducted from February 13 to 25. 464 random adult Tennesseans were polled by telephone.
Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and lives near Washington D.C. in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
