Mitt Romney Holds Big Lead in New Hampshire GOP Primary … Not that Unexpected

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney holds a hug lead in New Hampshire.Romney holds a 39% leads of distant second place Texas Governor Rick Perry with just 18%. This is similar to other polls that have been released recently; however, what would one really expect? Romney has to win NH big, otherwise he might as well drop out of the race. Having been the governor of a fellow adjacent New England state, the real question might be how come Romney does not have a greater lead?

Romney earns 39% of the vote in Rasmussen Reports’ first telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters in New Hampshire in the Election 2012 campaign season. Texas Governor Rick Perry is a distant second with 18% support, followed by Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 13%. The other announced GOP candidates are all in single digits. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) more are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Previous GOP winners of the NH primary, how well did the winner do in the general election, let alone get the nomination?

• 2008: John McCain
• 200: John McCain