NPR: Poll Shows Surprise Leader among Democrats in N.H.

Poll Shows Surprise Leader among Democrats in N.H.

You'll never guess who's leading the pack of Democratic presidential contenders in New Hampshire in a new poll. No, it's not Barack Obama, who took the state by storm a few months ago. And Hillary Clinton falls back when this man's name is in the mix.

Let's just say that it's an inconvenient truth to the other Democratic challengers that the poll shows Al Gore is the most popular in New Hampshire. Yes, Al Gore, who has insisted he has no plans to run for his party's presidential nomination.

Without Gore in the race, the WHDH-Suffolk University poll shows 37 percent of Democratic voters supporting or leaning toward Clinton, compared to Obama's 19 percent. John Edwards and Bill Richardson are next at 9 percent each. But if Gore were to toss his hat in the ring, Clinton would lose about quarter of her support and Obama almost half. The Washington Times reports that Gore would lead 32 percent to 26 percent over Clinton if he decided to run in the state.

"Gore is the only Democrat, including Hillary, who can instantly melt the field," said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, which conducted the survey.

He also points out that Gore would actually take more votes from Obama than from Clinton. "I think a chunk of Obama voters in New Hampshire are anybody-but-Hillary Democrats," Paleologos said.

The pro-Gore result comes a few days after the University of Wisconsin Survey Center's Badger Poll asked resident of that state for their impressions of both declared and undeclared presidential candidates in both parties. Gore and Rudy Giuliani had the most favorable scores for their respective parties.

9:29 AM ET | 06-28-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

I'm not surprised about Gore's popularity. If the primary was held tomorrow, I would vote for H. Clinton. Then in the presidential election, I would vote for Al Gore as a write-in candidate.

This is assuming that Gore is not on the ticket. The election is still many months away...a lot can still happen.

Sent by Sandy | 1:40 PM ET | 06-28-2007

The major parties' 2008 nominees: Gore v. (Fred) Thompson. You read it here first.

Sent by John (Berkeley, CA) | 2:40 PM ET | 06-28-2007

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