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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.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."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.wmur.com/article/romney-holds-big-lead-in-primary-poll/5166896>