Jan 2, 2008 8:00 pm US/Eastern
McCain Overtakes Romney In New N.H. Primary Poll
Democratic Side Now A Three-Way Race
MANCHESTER, N.H. (WBZ) ―
With less than a week to go before the New Hampshire primary, an exclusive new WBZ/Franklin Pierce poll shows John McCain has made a significant surge in the state, taking the lead among Republican candidates. Hillary Clinton maintains her lead among Democrats, although her margin is slimming.
In a poll of likely Republican voters, 37% say they plan to vote for McCain - more than double his 14% support in a similar WBZ/Franklin Pierce poll in mid-September. Mitt Romney's numbers have remained flat since September at 31%, now only good enough for second place.
Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani has seen his Granite State support plummet. At a healthy 23% in September's poll, only 10% of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire now say they plan to vote for Giuliani, putting him in a distant third place.
"McCain's increased campaigning in New Hampshire and endorsements from area newspapers appear to have helped his standings," said pollster R. Kelly Myers. "In contrast, Giuliani's expected poor showing in the Iowa caucus could further erode his support in New Hampshire."
Both McCain and Giuliani chose to campaign in New Hampshire Wednesday, rather than Iowa where voters caucus on Thursday.
John McCain 37%
Mitt Romney 31%
Rudy Giuliani 10%
Ron Paul 6%
Mike Huckabee 5%
Fred Thompson 2%
Duncan Hunter <1%
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton maintains the lead she has carried since the first WBZ/Franklin Pierce poll back in March 2007. She is seeing stronger than ever pressure from behind however, with both Barack Obama and John Edwards enjoying their strongest New Hampshire numbers yet.
The poll of likely Democratic Primary voters shows Hillary with 32% of support, down from a high of 38% last June and 36% in September.
Barack Obama now has 28% of voter support in New Hampshire, up ten points from September and within the poll's margin of error of 4.9%. John Edwards is holding a strong third place at 19%, up from 12% in September.
"What appeared to be a race characterized by a single front runner for most of the year, these results indicate that the race has really tightened among the top three candidates," Myers said.
Hillary Clinton 32%
Barack Obama 28%
John Edwards 19%
Bill Richardson 8%
Joe Biden 3%
Chris Dodd 1%
Dennis Kucinich 1%
Mike Gravel 0%
Undecided 8%
The poll also questioned voters' loyalty to their candidate of choice, the candidates' favorability, as well as what issues voters consider most important. You can view the complete results at the links below.
Republican Race - Complete Poll Results (pdf)
Democratic Race - Complete Poll Results (pdf)
The Republican poll interviewed 407 likely Republican Presidential Primary voters by telephone, and carries a margin of error of +/- 4.9%. The Democratic poll interviewed 403 likely Democratic voters by telephone, and carries a margin of error of +/- 4.9%.
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