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Jun 6, 2007 11:00 pm US/Eastern
Exclusive Poll Shows Romney, Giuliani Lead N.H.
by Jon Keller
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
Who won Tuesday night's debate among the Republican candidates for president? Our exclusive WBZ/Franklin Pierce College poll has taken the post-debate temperature of New Hampshire voters, and two candidates came out on top.
Let's call it a mild surprise. Initially, I called the debate a triumph for Giuliani and a disaster for McCain.
The voters in our poll agreed with all that, but added a co-favorite of their own.
Our poll shows likely GOP primary voters watched, listened, and called the debate a virtual tie.
Twenty-two percent said Mitt Romney won and 18-percent called it for Rudy Giuliani. That's within the 4.9 percent margin of error.
Trailing badly: Senator John McCain, with eleven percent.
But their reaction to the debate has helped push Romney to the front of the primary pack.
If the vote were tomorrow, 27-percent say they'd vote for Romney, a nine-point bulge over Giuliani and ten full points ahead of McCain, both of whom led Romney in the last WBZ/Franklin Pierce College poll in March.
Former senator Fred Thompson, who has not yet entered the race, finishes fourth.
What are the issues driving these numbers?
By nearly a three-to-one margin, voters say they oppose the pending immigration reform, which McCain has championed.
And among that majority, Romney is a clear favorite, running up a whopping 15 point lead over Giuliani, who also opposes the bill, and burying McCain by 23 points.
In politics, as in basketball, that's what you call a blowout.
And get this, Romney's overall favorability rating has jumped up ten points since March. Giuliani is holding steady, with about the same rating. But McCain has lost 13 points off his favorability in that same time span, a very disturbing sign for a candidate who walked off with the New Hampshire primary seven years ago.
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