A new poll shows former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney catching up to Rick Santorum in the state he represented in Congress for 16 years. Quinnipiac released a survey Tuesday morning showing Santorum with a 6 point lead, 41 to 35 percent.

It shows growth for both candidates; a Q-Pac poll released on March 14 showed Santorum leading 36 to 22 percent. And it shows that Romney is closing the gap – down 14 two weeks ago, he now trails by just 6 points.

Ron Paul takes 10 percent, and Newt Gingrich takes 7 percent.

The full poll results and crosstabs are available here.

“The Keystone State is critical for Sen. Rick Santorum, the native son who must win to reasonably continue the race for the presidency,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Can Santorum hold on against Gov. Mitt Romney’s money machine which has turned the tide in other states, washing away Santorum’s early leads?”

Santorum leads Romney among men (43 to 33 percent), women (39 to 38 percent), white evangelical Christians (53 to 24 percent), Tea Party members (50 to 32 percent) and self-described conservatives (48 to 30 percent).

Romney leads among self-described moderates (45 to 29 percent), voters with a college degree (47 to 31 percent) and those with an annual household income over $100,000 (44 to 39 percent).

Quinnipiac University surveyed 647 likely Republican primary voters with live interviews via land lines and cell phones from March 27 to April 1. The margin of error is +/- 3.9 percentage points.

The trend is similar to that of a recent Franklin & Marshall poll, which showed a wide Santorum lead had shrunk to a slim 30 to 28 percent margin.