A new national poll of likely Democratic primary voters has Gov. Bill Richardson’s support climbing to 7 percent, the highest it’s been in any recent national poll.
The American Research Group poll, conducted Thursday through Sunday, surveyed 600 likely Democratic primary voters and has a margin of error of 4 percent.
Hillary Clinton leads in the new poll with 36 percent of the vote, while Barack Obama has 21 percent and John Edwards has 16 percent. Joe Biden is at the margin of error with 4 percent, while no other candidate is above 1 percent and 12 percent said they are undecided.
Richardson was at 3 percent in the group’s July poll, 5 percent in June, and 2 percent in the three months before that, so it’s his best showing thus far.
The makeup of those who support Richardson is interesting. His support among Democrats – 85 percent of those surveyed – is at 7 percent, while his support among independents who are likely to vote in Democratic primaries and caucuses in their states – 15 percent of those surveyed – is at 9 percent. Among men, his support is at 11 percent, while it is at 3 percent among women.
Another national poll out today has Richardson’s support at 4 percent. This one, from Rasumssen Reports, has Clinton at 40 percent, Obama at 25 percent and Edwards at 13 percent, with no other candidate above the margin of error and 11 percent of voters undecided.
The poll of more than 1,000 likely Democratic primary voters was conducted Aug. 6-12 and has a margin of error of 3 percent.
In recent national polls, Richardson has scored anywhere between 1 and 7 percent, but his average, according to Real Clear Politics, is 3.6 percent, so both new polls have him moving in a direction that’s positive for his campaign.
Clinton makes move in Iowa; Richardson owns El Paso
In Iowa, Richardson was, for a time, threatening to overtake Obama for third place after being the first to air television commercials there. Obama recently began airing ads in that state, and the two newest polls have him catching Clinton and Edwards, with Richardson a distant fourth.
Clinton began airing her first television ads in Iowa today, according to the Associated Press.
Richardson was climbing when he was being given free reign of the airwaves. Now that the frontrunners are also on television, it will be interesting to see in the next few weeks whether he keeps gaining ground.
According to the El Paso Times, Richardson has by far the most support in that city, at least financially. Through June 30, Richardson received more than twice the amount of money from El Pasoans than that given to all other candidates combined. He took in $145,000 of the $215,000 El Pasoans have given.
A new national poll of likely Democratic primary voters has Gov. Bill Richardson’s support climbing to 7 percent, the highest it’s been in any recent national poll.