Polls show Richardson dropping in Iowa, N.H.

Three new polls out today will disappoint supporters of Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign.

The polls, conducted by American Research Group, have Richardson at 6 percent in New Hampshire, 5 percent in Iowa and 1 percent in South Carolina.

For Richardson, that’s a drop since the group’s May polls from 9 percent in New Hampshire and 8 percent in Iowa. He’s never been above 1 percent in South Carolina.

Two other recent polls conducted by other companies have placed Richardson at 9 percent in New Hampshire, but another recent poll had him falling to 6 percent in Iowa after climbing to about 10 percent in a number of polls in May.

The newest polls were conducted between Tuesday and Saturday. Each surveyed 600 likely Democratic primary voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

Ahead of Richardson in the New Hampshire poll were Hillary Clinton with 34 percent, Barack Obama with 25 percent and John Edwards with 11 percent. Eleven percent said they were undecided, and no other candidate was above the margin of error.

Ahead of Richardson in the Iowa poll were Clinton with 32 percent, Edwards with 29 percent and Obama with 13 percent. Fourteen percent were undecided.

Ahead of Richardson in South Carolina were Clinton with 37 percent, Edwards with 22 percent, Obama with 21 percent, Joe Biden with 3 percent and Dennis Kucinich and Chris Dodd with 2 percent apiece.

What does this mean in the context of what I wrote earlier about Richardson’s campaign gaining ground? (Scroll down if you haven’t read it yet.) Well, it’s hard to tell. These are automated surveys that aren’t as reliable as some other methods of polling, but it’s interesting that they show a drop in both Iowa and New Hampshire. The polls were conducted both before and after Richardson’s $7 million fundraising total for the second quarter was released.

I still contend that his strong fundraising total is likely to help him gain more support. And the Rasmussen Reports poll of New Hampshire, also released today, shows Richardson tied with Edwards at 9 percent.

But the new polls should be cause for concern among Richardson supporters, especially since this is the second recent poll to show support in Iowa dropping.

Meanwhile, Richardson and other presidential candidates spoke this weekend to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Here’s video of Richardson’s portion of the forum: