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Posted Feb 24, 2012, 9:12 am

Dylan Smith TucsonSentinel.com

Mitt Romney's lead over Rick Santorum has widened among Arizona Republican voters, leading 42-29 percent, a new poll showed.

The former Massachusetts governor now bests the ex-senator from Pennsylvania by 13 points, with Romney up three points and Santorum down 2 from a poll just a week ago.

Newt Gingrich gets the nod from 16 percent of likely Republican voters, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul follows with 8 percent.

Just three percent were undecided.

The survey by conservative pollster Rasmussen Reports was taken after Wednesday's debate.

While Romney opened up his lead slightly, many Republicans have already cast their ballots in the election. Arizona's primary is Tuesday, but early voting has been going on for weeks.

Since early voting began on Feb. 2, more than 44,000 Pima County Republicans have already returned their ballots, out of 85,000 sent out.

Statewide, over 200,000 ballots have already been returned.

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