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 Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the early frontrunner in the New Hampshire Republican primary, according to a new poll. 
 
 The WMUR Granite State Poll shows Romney well out in front of other potential candidates, but a large majority of likely voters said they are still trying to decide who they will support. 
 
 The poll shows 40 percent of likely Republican primary voters would vote for Romney, 10 percent would vote for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 7 percent favor former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and 7 percent support former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. 
 
 Another 6 percent prefer former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, 6 percent favor 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, 5 percent support U.S. Rep. and 2008 candidate Ron Paul, 3 percent support businessman Donald Trump, 1 percent favor former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, and 1 percent prefer Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. 
 
 The poll of 757 randomly selected New Hampshire adults was conducted from Jan. 28 through Feb. 7 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The poll includes a subsample of 357 likely Republican voters that has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points. 
 
 The survey was conducted for WMUR by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. 
 
 Romney has consistently led potential Republican candidates since the UNH Survey Center began tracking the race in February 2009. 
 
 "Romney is doing well in part because his brand of Republicanism fits with most New Hampshire Republicans, who can be characterized as 'Rockefeller Republicans,'" said Andrew Smith, director of the UNH Survey Center. "New Hampshire is one of the least religious states in the country, and social conservatives have difficulty winning here. Fiscal issues are much more potent in the Granite State." 
 
 While Romney has a strong lead, Smith said it's too early to make predictions about who will win the primary. He said 78 percent of likely Republican primary voters said they are still trying to decide who to vote for, an only 7 percent said they had definitely made up their minds. 
 
 Romney also has the highest favorability ratings of the potential candidates. Currently, 73 percent of likely Republican voters said they have a favorable opinion of him. Romney's net favorability, the percentage having a favorable opinion minus the percentage of those with an unfavorable opinion, is 57 percent. 
 
 Giuliani is second, with a plus-30 percent net favorability rating, Pawlenty with plus-25 percent, Huckabee with plus-22 percent and Santorum with plus-18 percent. 
 
 The least popular Republicans are Palin at minus-17 percent and Trump at minus-43 percent. Barbour has a net favorability of minus 1 percent, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is at minus-1 percent and former New Mexico Gov Gary Johnson is at minus-5 percent. 
 
 There is no potential Democratic challenger for President Barack Obama, but just 65 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said they plan to vote for Obama, and 27 percent are undecided. The subsample of 259 likely Democratic primary voters has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 6.1 percent. 
 
 
 
 Tell Us More: E-mail WMUR your tips and story ideas. Copyright 2011 by WMUR. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 
 
 Obama's chances of winning New Hampshire depend, at this point, on his opponent. In a hypothetical race between Obama and Romney, Romney leads, 49 to 41 percent. Against Palin, Obama does much better, leading 57 to 34 percent. Against Pawlenty, Obama leads 44 to 37 percent. 

 President Obama's support in New Hampshire is less than granite solid. 
 
 In a WMUR Granite State Poll released today, Mitt Romney garnered 49 percent of the vote to 41 percent for the president, who took the state in his 2008 win over Republican John McCain. 
 
 Any poll this early in the election season -- no prominent GOP candidate, including Romney, has even declared yet -- is nothing more than political hardtack for old political salts to chew upon. And most of the likely voters in the poll said they have not yet decided whom to back. Nonetheless, if the former Massachusetts governor is to be successful in a second quest for the White House, the path is likely to begin in New Hampshire. 
 
 Romney stumbled out of the gates in the 2008 GOP primaries, losing to McCain even though the state was in his political backyard. To prevent a rerun of that result, Romney has focused much of his early energies on the state, setting up a quasi operational base there at his summer home in the lakes region. 
 
 The poll shows Romney well out in front of potential GOP challengers, getting the nod from about 40 percent of likely voters in the Republican primary. The rest of the pack were huddled in the single digits, save former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had 10 percent of the votes. They were followed by 7 percent for former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, 7 percent for former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, 6 percent for former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, 6 percent for 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, 5 percent backing Representative Ron Paul, another 2008 candidate, and 3 percent for businessman Donald Trump. 
 
 Romney has consistently led potential Republican candidates since the UNH Survey Center began tracking the race two years ago. The center conducted the poll for WMUR. 
 
 "Romney is doing well in part because his brand of Republicanism fits with most New Hampshire Republicans, who can be characterized as 'Rockefeller Republicans,'" Andrew Smith, director of the UNH Survey Center, told WMUR. "New Hampshire is one of the least religious states in the country, and social conservatives have difficulty winning here. Fiscal issues are much more potent in the Granite State." 
 
 President Obama fares better among all likely voters in a hypothetical matchup against Palin, winning 57 to 34 percent. 
 
 The survey polled 757 randomly selected adults -- including 357 likely Republican voters -- from Jan. 28 through Feb. 7. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. 
 

– The 2012 presidential race is already heating up: A new poll shows that Mitt Romney is the frontrunner in New Hampshire, beating President Obama in a hypothetical race by 49% to 41%. Romney, not surprisingly, is also the leading Republican, coming out well ahead of other potential candidates. While a large majority of likely voters still haven't decided who they'll back, 40% said they'd vote for Romney. The second-place finisher, Rudy Giuliani, trailed at 10%, WMUR reports. It went down from there: Sarah Palin, for example, got 5% of the hypothetical vote, ahead of Donald Trump at 3%. But 78% of those potential voters said they haven't made a final decision, and only 7% claimed they had. Meanwhile, only 65% of likely Democratic voters said they'll vote to re-elect Obama, while 27% are undecided. But in the Boston Globe, Michael J Bailey notes that "any poll this early in the election season ... is nothing more than political hardtack for old political salts to chew upon."