No surprise here. A WMUR/Granite State poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, shows the former Massachusetts governor far in front, Bachmann running second, and everyone else in single digits. The date of the poll was not reported.

The poll results (773 likely Republican primary voters, MOE +/- 3/5%):

Romney 35%

Bachmann 12%

Ron Paul 7%

Rudy Giuliani 7%

Perry 4%

Palin 3%

Pawlenty 3%

Huntsman 2%

Cain 2%

Gingrich 1%

Gary Johnson, Buddy Roemer, Rick Santorum < 1%

I trust that readers do not have to be reminded that one of New Hampshire’s leading political operatives is Dave Carney, who is in the Perry camp.

Doug Macatonis, who posted the poll results on the Website “Outside the Beltway,” closes with this observation: “Not much to say here other than one wonders if anyone will seriously contest New Hampshire.”

Tagged: dave carney, Herman Cain, John Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, mitt romney, newt gingrich, rick perry, ron paul, Rudy Giuliani, tim pawlenty

From Tom Jensen on the Public Policy Polling Web site:

Much has been written about the weakness of the 2012 Republican Presidential candidate field but what I think might be most remarkable about the leading quartet of Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich  is that they’ve all become more unpopular and by quite a good bit since we started monthly national 2012 polling in April of 2009. The fact that the more Americans are exposed to them, the less they like them certainly does not bode well for their competitiveness next year.

* In April 2009 Huckabee’s favorability was +8 at 42/34. Now it’s -7 at 35/42, for a 15 point drop over the last two years. His net drop has been 25 points with Democrats, 7 points with Republicans, and 19 points with independents.

* In April 2009 Palin’s favorability was -7 at 42/49. Now it’s -22 at 35/57, for a 15 point drop over the last two years. Her net drop has been 19 points with Democrats, 18 points with Republicans, and 19 points with independents. (more…)

Tagged: Gary Johnson, George W. Bush, haley barbour, jeb bush, jon huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mike Huckabee, mitch daniels, mitt romney, newt gingrich, oliver stone, Rand Paul, rick perry, Rick Santorum, rob johnson, ron paul, sarah palin, tim pawlenty

So says Ken Rudin, who writes NPR’s daily political blog, Political Junkie. Dismissing House and Senate Republicans, he focuses on governors as the future of the GOP. This narrowing of the list omits Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Newt Gingrich, among others. Here is his list:

1. Tim Pawlenty (MN)
2. Jon Huntsman (UT)
3. Haley Barbour (MS)
4. Bobby Jindal (LA)
5. Charlie Crist (FL)
6. Mitch Daniels (IN)
7. Sarah Palin (AK)
8. Rick Perry (TX)
9. Mark Sanford (SC)
10. Jodi Rell (CT)
11. Bob Riley (AL)
12. Sonny Perdue (GA)
13. Mike Rounds (SD)
14. John Hoeven (ND)
15. Butch Otter (ID)
16. Dave Heineman (NE)
17. Jim Douglas (VT)
18. Don Carcieri (RI)
19. Linda Lingle (HI)
20. Jan Brewer (AZ)
21. Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA)
22. Jim Gibbons (NV)

This is not exactly a list of giants.

1. Pawlenty is a solid governor who should have been McCain’s pick for vice president. His recent announcement that he would not seek reelection in 2010 is attributed to (choose one) the possibility that he could be defeated by a Democrat in a liberal state; or that he has made up his mind to run for president in 2012.

2. Huntsman, who speaks fluent Mandarin, is Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to China. He is a Mormon, a religious affiliation that was a disadvantage for Mitt Romney in 2008. Huntsman addressed the issue on Fox, in a 2006 interview with Neil Cavuto: “And people hear about Mormons, and they think, gosh, they are a different breed or culture. But, you know, we have five U.S. senators. We have 18 in the House of Representatives. We have some of the great CEOs in America. We are just normal people, like everybody else. And, for some reason or another, people mischaracterize us.”

3. Barbour is a shrewd politician and political operative — he’s a former tobacco lobbyist who looks the part — who knows his way around Washington. He has just inherited the chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association from the lovelorn Mark Sanford. Asked this morning by Face the Nation’s Bob Schieffer about whether he might run in 2012, Barbour said, “I don’t have any plan to. I don’t have any intention to. Right now, I think every Republican who wants to rebuild our party needs to be focused on elections of 2009 and ‘10. I mentioned the New Jersey and the Virginia governors’ races, both very competitive and very important. We have 37 governors’ races next year, plus the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate. I’m not going to give any thought to running for anything until after the 2010 election. I’d be very surprised if I ended up running for president, but I can’t just say flatly no. But I would be very surprised. My wife would be even more surprised.”

(more…)

Tagged: 2012, bobby jindal, charlie crist, gop governors, haley barbour, jon huntsman, mitch daniels, number 8, rick perry, sarah palin, tim pawlenty