New Hampshire GOP Primary: Romney 39%, Perry 18%, Paul 13%

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is the runaway leader in the race for the 2012 Republican nomination in New Hampshire, home of next year’s first presidential primary.

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.)

It’s important to note, however, that this survey was taken prior to last night’s Republican candidate debate in Orlando, Florida.

Among the also-rans, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has risen to a surprising fourth place with seven percent (7%), closely followed by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann who picks up five percent (5%) of the vote. Bachmann has largely ignored the Granite State, focusing her efforts on trying to land a big win in the Iowa Caucuses which come a week before the New Hampshire primary.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Georgia businessman Herman Cain each earn four percent (4%) support from likely primary voters in New Hampshire, while Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, gets two percent (2%).

In Rasmussen Reports’ most recent national survey of Likely Republican Primary voters, released earlier this week, the race for the presidential nomination is all about Perry and Romney, with no other candidate reaching double-digit support.  Perry captures 28% of the vote to Romney’s 24%.

Romney has long been considered the favorite in the contest in New Hampshire because of its proximity to his home state of Massachusetts.

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This statewide telephone survey of 750 Likely Republican Primary Voters in New Hampshire was conducted on September 21, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.