Hillary Clinton is the early frontrunner among candidates in New Hampshire for the Democratic presidential nomination, and among Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani are tied, according to a new Granite State poll.
Historically, the first primary in the nation, New Hampshire is seen as a bellwether for the nation’s presidential primaries and caucuses.
The poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, interviewed 664 randomly selected New Hampshire likely primary voters by telephone between Thursday and Monday. Included in the sample were 353 likely 2008 Democratic voters and 311 likely 2008 Republican primary voters.
“Among likely Republican primary voters, Arizona Senator John McCain has consistently been the most popular, picking up where he left off in 2000,” the center said. But the latest results show Giuliani is now in “a dead heat with McCain.”
Smith said there is “some room for movement between now and the primary.”
“Giuliani and Obama are the wild cards – [they] could go up or plummet,” he said, noting that “McCain, Romney, Clinton and Edwards are all pretty seasoned.”
Smith said it “doesn’t look like there are any likely folks in the bottom tier who will bump up. Perhaps Newt, but he’s pretty unpopular among many Republicans.”
Clinton is scheduled to be in New Hampshire this weekend, and Obama will visit the state on Monday.
-Parts of this report were provided courtesy of CNSnews.com