Mitt Romney's New Hampshire Support Slips, But Time's On His Side

CONCORD, N.H. -- Mitt Romney's stranglehold on the New Hampshire primary is slipping slightly, according to a tracking poll of Granite State voters. But the trend lines are not moving nearly sharply enough to make a real difference before Tuesday's vote.

According to the latest Suffolk University/7News two-day tracking poll, Romney now has the support of 35 percent of likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters. That's down 4 percent since the last poll, but it still places Romney up 15 percentage points over his closest competitor, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who is at 20 percent.

The equally interesting numbers come from the rest of the field. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is now at 11 percent, third place in the poll. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is at 9 percent, and former Sen. Rick Santorum, who has been preaching culturally conservative values to Granite Staters for days, is now at 8 percent (down one percentage point).

Huntsman's strength is coming from young independents (ages 18-44) who have increased their support for him from 10 percent to 18 percent. Paul's strength comes from younger voters (ages 18-34), 39 percent of whom back his candidacy.

If the two could someone consolidate that support into one candidacy, it might cause concern for Romney. But as the Suffolk poll underscores, there remains no singular alternative to the former Massachusetts governor even as his support is slightly slipping.

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Comments

[CanYouSeeThemNow]

02:38 AM on 01/09/2012

Who determines the age group of a certain candidate's supporters?I'm, hhmmhm, well over 34 and I and many my age support Ron Paul. We contribute monetarily and by communications. Or is the reporting provided by design to print more misleading information?

[joeg2028]

09:50 AM on 01/09/2012

Come on. It doesn't say that a certain age group is Paul's ONLY support; what it's saying is that one age group is supports him to a greater extent than other age groups do--and maybe it's saying that that age group supports him more than it supports any other candidate.

Don't get your feelings hurt just because your age group wasn't named; it means only that your age group hasn't concentrated around one candidate to the same extent as the one that was mentioned in the article.

[TheHighForester]

10:42 PM on 01/08/2012

Young voters look at Ron Paul and see Grandpa Walton, wise and benevolent. Realists look at Ron Paul and see Dr. Mengele. We are all just fit subjects for his grand experiment.

[fred jonze 56271]

01:48 AM on 01/09/2012

when i look at old voters, i see dinner guests who've shown me a horrendous check and then procede to order champagne and lobster all around just before they die.

yeah, i'll take what you're not having and like it.

[dmm1047]

09:59 PM on 01/08/2012

"Slim shady."

[Earl King]

06:17 PM on 01/08/2012

When Obama took over Detroit, agreed to fund the bankruptcy, hired the auto task force which closed Pontiac dealerships, factories and fired employees.......and tried to turn around the company.....does that make him a corporate raider?

[Greg Petty]

06:31 PM on 01/08/2012

No,Pontiac was losing chunks of market share yearly Obama saved an industry, Mitt wanted let the whole industry collapse ,huge,huge,huge difference

[Earl King]

08:06 PM on 01/08/2012

OK please get your facts right...Romney wanted GM to go thru Bankruptcy...which it eventually did. Thats how things are done in business. What the president did was to fund the bankruptcy so the United Auto Workers would come out better than the bond holders...something that is never done.

[speechteach]

07:39 PM on 01/08/2012

No. He saved the American auto industry. More employees would have lost their jobs if he hadn't. I wonder how many of those dealerships have re-opened and how many employees have been rehired. You are comparing two different things. Obama didn't get wealthy by doing what he had to do. Mitt would have let them go bankrupt, causing much more damage to the economy. Think it over. You'll eventually get it.

[Earl King]

08:07 PM on 01/08/2012

News flash..they did go bankrupt..thats how their debts and obligations were suspended and the UAW ended up owning GM

[Chuck Rewalt]

05:57 PM on 01/08/2012

I find it amazing how the press pushes a candidate who is popular with big business.. Like Romney who is a big smile in a suit.. Who's head seems to bob or turn no matter this way or that .. As long as it means support of votes of maybe special interest money.. I don't care one way or the other who is the leader of this country.. I just want to be proud of whoever it is.. So far its a real sham on America.. So many vote for the pretty face. So Sad..

[Benny Belloes]

05:48 PM on 01/08/2012

Aside from the fact that Mr. Romney lies about being a job creator the other things that disturbs me about him is he has no soul, he had no sigh of life in his eyes. Watch as he takes a voters hand to shake it, he looks at them but one can tell he dose not see them. I'm surprised he doesn't wear latex gloves so that working men and women can't touch him. He is truly uneasy with the workingmen and women of this country and for the life of me why anyone but those in 1500-dollar pinstripe suits would vote for him. Look at his pictures he has no life in his eyes.

[speechteach]

07:42 PM on 01/08/2012

He knows nothing but wealth. I don't think he has real empathy for those suffering due to poverty. Obama does. Working as a community organizer shows you how poorly some people have to live. Growing up with a single mother and then your middle class grandparents tends to make you appreciate how far you have come. Obama gets it; Romney doesn't.

[VOTER]

05:47 PM on 01/08/2012

"Don't Romney America!"

(Thanks, GypsyRose)

OBAMA/BIDEN, 2012

[Totto]

04:56 PM on 01/08/2012

Romney's Poor Pooch: http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2007/06/28/Mitt-Romneys-Cruel-Vacation.aspx

[VOTER]

05:51 PM on 01/08/2012

The Ghost of Seamus Will Haunt Mitt Until the End of Time. 
Woof!

[speechteach]

08:16 PM on 01/08/2012

Yep...weird!

[LondonTownNY]

04:52 PM on 01/08/2012

Americans should never vote for a Mormon Fraud & Republi-CON ARTIST like Mitt Romney. The Legacy of this Financial Con Artist is truly disturbing. But what is even more grotesque is that fresh on the heels of America's financial crisis brought upon us largely by the morality of folks like Mitt Romney is that we will put a charlatan like that in charge of the entire country, in the White House. Looting the Spirit of American Enterprise, Sending Jobs Overseas, destroying communities while some slick guys in suits in an office make money before they move on to their next kill, is this what America is all about? America does not need a Leveraged Buyout King, unscrupulous CEO or financial con-man who will sell America off for spare parts. Likewise we do not need a duplicitous and soul less shape-shifting Mormon in the White House. Mitt Romney is a Con-man just like the founder of his CULT, Joseph Smith. His financial morality and spiritual morality emanate from the same hollow place. Romney's life work proves he cares about one thing, Mitt Romney.

[UKGAL36]

09:44 PM on 01/08/2012

Well said!

[paul87920]

06:51 AM on 01/09/2012

Which is why I plan on voting for him in Indiana if the primaries are still relevant in May. After that I look forward to Obama defeating him in November. :)

[KennyJr]

04:46 PM on 01/08/2012

He'll win .. But to me it looks like it’ll be because he’s the best of them all at being slick and deceptive.

In the Washington Post's Pinocchio section, on Romney, we read comments like, "impossible to verify", "missing context", "rhetorical nonsense", "incomplete", "apples-and-oranges comparison", and "misleading impression". Furthermore, we learn that his definition of "very little" actually comes to about 84.2% when talking about money to people-in-need vs. administrative costs (the Post uses the traditionally inefficient food stamp program as its example).

We can only hope that, before the general election, we Americans as a whole will see Mitt Romney for what he, is as opposed to what he's trying to present himself as.

[speechteach]

07:43 PM on 01/08/2012

I think Obama's team have a plan for just that.

[speechteach]

08:16 PM on 01/08/2012

Sorry, "will have a plan...".

[HCLiberal]

03:57 PM on 01/08/2012

It's interesting that 65% of NH Republicans don't want Romney.
I call that a weak candidate, at best.

[Earl King]

06:14 PM on 01/08/2012

right now only 44% of americans want Obama

[HCLiberal]

07:27 PM on 01/08/2012

:-)
That's comparable to 65% Republicans in NH and 70% in Iowa not wanting Romney?

Poor you. Now you are sorry that you replied, aren't you TBgr?

[HCLiberal]

03:55 PM on 01/08/2012

So, the Corporation would win, and the Woowoo would end up a distant second.

[GoDems2012]

03:02 PM on 01/08/2012

Just look at the picture...there is a tremendous slime factor in his smile.

[Totto]

04:58 PM on 01/08/2012

He'd be happy to sell you an oil-burning Rambler.

[oldgeek1]

03:01 PM on 01/08/2012

Romney will be the pick of the litter.

[thebelldog]

02:49 PM on 01/08/2012

Romney is a charlatan and shapeshifter. These are his good points. He will say anything to get $$ or votes. Because of his religion it is OK to lie if it is a means to an end. Sarah made a career of this (it is not just a Mormon thing). I am not saying religion is bad or that most religious folks are bad, just the opposite actually. When religion gets bad is when it gets closer to the money end of it.The bigger the $$ the bigger the lies. The lies get easier to rationalize the more money is at stake. They tell themselves they are lying to help the church (as long as they get their cut). The same methods and rationalizations are used to to get money for politics. Not very succinct on my part but oh well.