Pennsylvania GOP candidate leads race for governor: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania has a 10-point lead over this Democratic rival in the race to replace Democratic Governor Ed Rendell, according to a survey on Tuesday.

The Republican candidate, Attorney General Tom Corbett, was favored by 49 percent of voters, compared with 39 percent favoring the Democratic candidate, Dan Onorato, the Allegheny County chief executive, the poll by Rasmussen Reports found.

Since February, Onorato's margin of support has run from 26 percent to 36 percent. Corbett since February has held leads ranging from 45 percent to 52 percent, Rasmussen, based in Asbury Park, New Jersey, said.

Corbett held support from 77 percent of voters who said they strongly support repealing the Obama administration's new law expanding national health care.

In contrast, 79 percent of the voters who strongly opposed repealing the new health care law backed Onorato.

Overall, 54 percent of Pennsylvania voters supported axing the national health care law, according to the poll of 500 voters, which had a 4.5 percent margin of error.

Immigration was another dividing line: Corbett was backed by 65 percent of voters who support Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants while Onorato was preferred by 68 percent of voters who oppose the new Arizona law.

Most Pennsylvanians, by a margin of 57 percent, favored Arizona's new anti-immigration law, the poll said.

(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Leslie Adler)