A new Rasmussen Reports survey shows Mitt Romney leading the 2012 New Hampshire Republican primary by 10 points, with Newt Gingrich maintaining the second place status he has solidified in recent polling. The poll of the January 10th contest is the first since the New Hampshire Union Leader, the state’s largest newspaper, issued Gingrich a high-profile endorsement on Sunday.
34% of respondents supported Romney in the poll, with 24% supporting Gingrich. Ron Paul received 14% support, Jon Huntsman 11%, and all other candidates were mired in single digits.
Most respondents were aware of Gingrich’s recent triumph: 76% of respondents could identify him as the recipient of the Union Leader’s endorsement. But Romney’s and Gingrich’s numbers are not out of synch with the most recent polling of the state. TPM’s current poll average shows 36.6% support for the first-place Romney, compared to 18.8% for the second-place Gingrich. The numbers are not wildly different from those in the Rasmussen poll, and the poll is not proof of a spike for Gingrich, or drop for Romney, in the wake of the Union Leader endorsement.
In truth, Gingrich’s support level in New Hampshire has been steadily improving over the last month, and the Rasmussen poll may just be showing a continuation of that trend. It is not yet clear what effect the Union Leader’s endorsement is having on the race.
The automated Rasmussen Reports survey of 762 likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters was conducted on November 28, 2011. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
