Underground Bunker

McCain, Edwards Slip In New Hampshire.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Democratic and Republican presidential front-runners held their spots in a new CNN/WMUR poll of New Hampshire voters, but further back in the pack, the field has shifted on each side.
Among Democratic contenders, Sen. Hillary Clinton wields a solid lead over Sen. Barack Obama, with the former first lady claiming the support of 36 percent of Granite State voters. Obama trailed with 27 percent. (Full poll results [PDF])
But former Sen. John Edwards, the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2004, slipped to a statistical tie with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in the latest poll, which was conducted between July 9 and Tuesday. Edwards had drawn 14 percent support in the previous poll, conducted in June, but came in at 9 percent in the new survey, while Richardson came in at 11 percent in both surveys. (See June’s Democatic poll)
And on the Republican side, Sen. John McCain slipped 8 percentage points since June (See June’s GOP poll) in the state where he upset now-President Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign. At 12 percent, McCain trails former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who leads the pack with 34 percent; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, with 20 percent; and former Sen. Fred Thompson, who has not yet officially entered the race, with 13 percent. Thompson ran fourth in the June poll.
Romney gained five percentage points in the most recent poll; Giuliani dropped 2, and Thompson gained 1.
New Hampshire holds the nation’s first presidential primary, scheduled for Jan. 22, 2008. The poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire, had a sampling error of 5.5 percentage points.
Only 7 percent of the 307 Republican primary voters and 10 percent of Democrats said they had settled on a candidate. And 38 percent of the Republicans polled said they could never support the Arizona senator, compared to 30 percent for Thompson, 22 percent for Giuliani and 17 percent for Romney.
On the Democratic side, 16 percent of the 333 voters surveyed said they would not consider voting for Clinton under any circumstances; 15 percent said the same about Obama, and 24 percent viewed Edwards as unacceptable.
Eight Democrats and 10 Republicans are currently in the wide-open race for the White House.
Among the second-tier Democratic candidates, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware drew 4 percent support; Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, 3 percent; and the remaining two, Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd and former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska drew less than 1 percent.
Among second-tier Republicans, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas were tied at 2 percent; Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson each had 1 percent; and Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California had less than 1 percent support.

posted by David @ 12:23 PM