First polls showed former Godfather CEO Hernan Cain surging in the polls as conservative GOPers felt they found their viable alternative to former Massachusetts Mitt “I-was-severely-conservative” Romney. Then he fizzled. Then polls showed former House Speaker Newt Gingirch surging in the polls as conservative GOPers felt they found their viable anti-Romney.

And now a PPP national poll find that it’s Senator Rick Santorum’s turn:

Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories on Tuesday Rick Santorum has opened up a wide lead in PPP’s newest national poll. He’s at 38% to 23% for Mitt Romney, 17% for Newt Gingrich, and 13% for Ron Paul.

Part of the reason for Santorum’s surge is his own high level of popularity. 64% of voters see him favorably to only 22% with a negative one. But the other, and maybe more important, reason is that Republicans are significantly souring on both Romney and Gingrich. Romney’s favorability is barely above water at 44/43, representing a 23 point net decline from our December national poll when he was +24 (55/31). Gingrich has fallen even further. A 44% plurality of GOP voters now hold a negative opinion of him to only 42% with a positive one. That’s a 34 point drop from 2 months ago when he was at +32 (60/28).

Santorum is now completely dominating with several key segments of the electorate, especially the most right leaning parts of the party. With those describing themselves as ‘very conservative,’ he’s now winning a majority of voters at 53% to 20% for Gingrich and 15% for Romney. Santorum gets a majority with Tea Party voters as well at 51% to 24% for Gingrich and 12% for Romney. And with Evangelicals he falls just short of a majority with 45% to 21% for Gingrich and 18% for Romney.

It used to be that Gingrich was leading with all these groups and Romney was staying competitive enough with them to hold the overall lead. No more- a consensus conservative candidate finally seems to be emerging and it’s Santorum.

The best thing Romney might have going for him right now is Gingrich’s continued presence in the race. If Gingrich dropped out 58% of his supporters say they would move to Santorum, while 22% would go to Romney and 17% to Paul. Santorum gets to 50% in the Newt free field to 28% for Romney and 15% for Paul.

Of course if there’s been one constant theme in this GOP race it’s that once you get to the top you tend to start heading back down.
And what does it say about Romney? Romney should start using this line:

This poll is yet another sign of Romney’s weakness should he get the nomination: there’s a possibility as much as many Republicans detest Barack Obama enough of them could stay home in a very close election to ruin Republican hopes of retaking the White House. On the other hand, if Santorum gets the nomination you can bet your bottom dollar that his candidacy will chase away a large number of independents and moderates (moderates are also not monolithic group and some lean more to the right or left).

What to expect: Romney not to leave anything to chance and continue to plead as he did at CPAC to the point of seeming all too eager (“severely conservative”) that he is and always has been a conservative. He’ll still run mega ads but perhaps his PAC will try to be a bit less brutal, given how the money he and his PAC have been spending and the ferocity of his ads have become big issues. For instance, Romney has been busy in Maine — this time not leaving a caucus state to chance.