Opinion: New Hampshire voters see Mitt and Hillary as winners

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A new poll of likely primary voters in New Hampshire finds Republicans and Democrats agreed on at least one, no, two things: Members of both parties believe that Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton will win their party’s primary vote in the Granite State.

The Franklin Pierce University/WBZ Poll of 401 likely voters finds that 31% of Democrats and 37% of Republicans see Romney as the state winner compared with 20% of Democrats and 31% of Republicans who believe Rudy Giuliani will win and 9% of Democrats and 6% of Republicans who see John McCain as winning.

This continues a positive trend for the former Massachusetts governor who trailed Giuliani with only 12% in March, which grew to 23% in June and to 26% in September. The same poll found that Fred Thompson’s campaign has failed to register with New Hampshire voters with only 1% believing he will win compared to 2% for Mike Huckabee and 6% for McCain.

Fully 71% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans believe Clinton will win the state’s Democratic contest. Only 8% of Democrats and 11% of Republicans expect Barack Obama to win while only 6% of Democrats and 3% of Republicans see John Edwards as carrying the primary day.

Expectations of a Clinton win among Democrats have grown from 38% in March to 48% in June to 61% in September while expectations of an Obama victory have dropped from 18% in March to 8% today.

Fifty-six percent of Democrats expect Clinton to capture the White House while only 8% see Obama doing that and 2% see Edwards as president. Among Republicans, 23% see Giuliani winning the presidency, 21% see Romney winning and 16% see Clinton winning. Fully 32% of GOP voters claim to be unsure.

--Andrew Malcolm