Gov. Bill Richardson’s support in New Hampshire has surged to 10 percent in the newest poll, up from 2 percent six weeks ago.
“Of greatest significance (in the poll) is the move of Bill Richardson into double-digits from merely a blip on the screen,” said pollster John Zogby, whose company released the newest poll today. “He is now a player in all this.”
The Zogby International poll follows weeks of slow climbs by Richardson in surveys in several other states. Recent polls have placed Richardson at 6 percent in Nevada and 5 percent in Iowa.
Richardson was the first Democratic presidential candidate to run television ads. He has run them in Iowa and New Hampshire, the two states where he’s seen the greatest gains. His new, humorous ads, which you can view by clicking here, have been running in both states in recent days.
The New Hampshire poll, conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, surveyed 503 Democratic primary voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.
Richardson appears to have gained mostly at the expense of John Edwards, whose support fell from 23 percent on April 3 to 15 percent in the newest poll. Hillary Clinton was at 28 percent, down from 29 percent in April, and Barack Obama was at 26 percent, up from 23 percent in April.
No other candidate had more than 4 percent, and undecideds accounted for 15 percent in the poll.
This is a surge many who know Richardson predicted. It’s fair to say, at this point, that Clinton and Obama are the top-tier candidates in New Hampshire, while Edwards and Richardson are in the second-tier and everyone else is in the third-tier.
Zogby noted, however, that Edwards has the lead in Iowa, which holds the first presidential nominating contest under the current schedule, and said he would “get a bump” in New Hampshire if he holds on to win there.
The news of Richardson’s gain comes on the day that he unveiled his energy policy in a speech in Washington. You can read a news article about it by clicking here and the speech by clicking here.
Richardson also plans to move from the exploratory committee phase to an official candidacy on Monday.
This is about the time the national press should start paying more attention to the New Mexico governor’s presidential campaign. That means he’ll get a lot more attention, but it also means greater scrutiny.
On the Republican side, the Zogby poll had Mitt Romney at 35 percent in New Hampshire, up from 25 percent in April. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani were both at 19 percent – a 6-percent drop for McCain and no change for Giuliani from April.
No other GOP candidate had significant support or showed a significant gain.
Gov. Bill Richardson’s support in