Zogby Poll Shows Romney, McCain in Virtual Dead Heat in New Hampshire

Editor: Alan Gray, NewsBlaze

Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby New Hampshire daily tracking poll: Romney and McCain in a Virtual Dead Heat in New Hampshire

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire - Republican rivals Mitt Romney and John McCain are essentially deadlocked as the White House race tightened ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Sunday.

About half of the polling in the four-day tracking survey was conducted after the Iowa caucuses last Thursday, when Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee sailed to easy wins in the opening test of the U.S. presidential campaign.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who lost in Iowa to Huckabee, gained two percentage points overnight to move ahead of McCain by one point, 32 percent to 31 percent, also well within the margin of error.

Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor, was in third with 12 percent.

Too Close

"It's too close to call on the Republican side," Zogby said. "Romney is leading among Republican voters, and there has been a little movement for Huckabee but not a lot."

The rolling poll of 837 likely Republican voters was taken Wednesday through Saturday, before back-to-back debates by candidates on Saturday night.

New Hampshire's primary on Tuesday is the next battleground in the state-by-state process of choosing Republican and Democratic candidates for November's election to replace President George W. Bush.

The state is vital to efforts by Romney to revitalize his campaign after a disappointing showing in Iowa.

Zogby said McCain had been hurt by the preference of independents, who can vote in either party's primary.

McCain, an Arizona senator, won New Hampshire during his failed 2000 presidential bid with the help of substantial independent support.

But this year about 40 percent of independents expect to vote in the Democratic primary and only one-quarter in the Republican contest, Zogby said.

"Right now McCain's biggest problem may be going after Republican votes because there just aren't going to be as many opportunities among independents," Zogby said.

About 7 percent of Republicans remain undecided, according to the New Hampshire poll.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was at 7 percent, slightly ahead of Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 6 percent. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was at 3 percent and California Rep. Duncan Hunter was at less than 1 percent.

The rolling tracking poll will continue each day until New Hampshire's vote on Tuesday. In a rolling poll, the most recent day's results are added while the oldest day's results are dropped in order to track changing momentum.

Read more:Clinton, McCain Leads Shrink in New Hampshire

Source: Reuters

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com

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