Romney holding steady in NH

[brooklynite]

from Public Policy Polling

Mitt Romney continues to be headed for a comfortable win in New Hampshire. PPP's final poll there finds him with 35% to 18% for Ron Paul, 16% for Jon Huntsman, 12% for Newt Gingrich, 11% for Rick Santorum, 3% for Buddy Roemer, and 1% for Rick Perry.

Romney's support has been remarkably consistent over the course of PPP's three Granite State tracking polls, never straying from 35-36%. He's the most popular of the candidates in the state, with a 60/34 favorability rating. And he also has the most committed supporters...85% of them say they're definitely going to vote for him and when you look at the race just among those whose minds are completely made up his lead over Paul expands to 40-19.

The excitement in New Hampshire on Tuesday night will probably be the battle for second place. There Huntsman has the momentum. His support is up from 12% to 16%, while Paul's has declined from 21% to 18% over the last week and a half. Huntsman's favorability (55/30) is far better than Paul's (43/51) and 13% of voters list Huntsman as their 2nd choice compared to only 5% for Paul.

All of these same arguments for Huntsman potentially overtaking Paul could have been applied to Santorum overtaking Paul on our Iowa poll last weekend and of course that's what did happen when it was finally time to count the votes.

It was suggested that Rick Perry changed his mind about dropping out because he didn't want to quit after an embarassing result. But to lose to Buddy Roemer?

[Mopar151]

1. We like Uncle Buddy up here

And he has some important things to say. Not so Rabid Rick.....

[onehandle]

2. And yet President Obama will win the state in November.

Gonna have to lean hard on that Southern Strategy, Mittens.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

3. Holding steady? Really? The Corporate Media so desperately wants him, however...

Mittens was at 41% after IA. He's now at 35%. I suspect that he'll end up between 25%-30%.

Yes, he is successful if he beats his standard 25%. But, NH is one of Mitten's home states. He has spent more money in NH than any other candidate. And the Corporate Media expected him to win big. But if the reality is that he only hovers around 25%-35%, I wouldn't call that a big success. I would have cause for concern.

[brooklynite]

4. More to the point...

Mittens got 31% last time around; if he ends up with fewer votes -- again -- he's going to have some explaining to do about his popularity. The more you get to know him...