Mitt Romney continues to lead among New Hampshire Republicans, but Michele Bachmann is on the rise, according to a Suffolk University poll of likely New Hampshire primary voters released late Tuesday.
On a trial ballot, 36 percent of primary voters said they’d lean toward supporting Romney, while 11 percent said Bachmann. No other candidate broke into the double digits. Twenty-one percent of respondents said they were undecided.
Voters do not appear to see a clear alternative to either Romney or Bachmann. Asked whom they would vote for if their first choice candidate dropped out, the number of undecided voters rose to 38 percent. Fourteen percent said Romney and 12 percent said Bachmann. Again, no other candidate made it to double digits.
Romney seems to have attained the status of the heir apparent. Asked who the next president would be, Barack Obama or one of the Republican candidates, 24 percent said Obama, and 27 percent said Romney. Thirty-four percent were undecided.
Tim Pawlenty’s truth-telling tour does not seem to have made waves in the Granite State. Just 1 percent of respondents named him as the candidate they most trusted to tell them the truth. Eighteen percent named Romney and 10 percent named Michele Bachmann.
Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich win the awards for the candidate that New Hampshire primary voters trust the least, with 19 percent saying Gingrich and 17 percent naming Palin. Mitt Romney comes in third with 10 percent. The two also have negative approval ratings.
(Alec Baldwin: Bachmann inarticulate, full of s**t, someone to be feared)
Romney and Bachmann also have the highest favorability ratings. Romney is at 64 percent, with just 19 percent unfavorable. Bachmann has the second highest at 44 percent with 22 percent unfavorable.
New Hampshire Republicans seem to be warming to the field of candidates, with 66 percent saying that they were somewhat to very satisfied with the Republican field of candidates, and just 28 percent expressing dissatisfaction.