Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s momentum from a surprising finish in the Iowa caucus Tuesday is carrying over to his popularity in New Hampshire, according to an NBC/Marist poll of likely New Hampshire primary voters released Friday.
Mr. Santorum finished the poll in third place, garnering 13 percent. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney still maintains a large lead, as he finished with 42 percent, 20 percentage points ahead of his next closest competitor, Texas congressman Ron Paul who had 22 percent in the poll.
The poll was good news for Mr. Santorum though, as he finished 11 percentage points higher than the NBC/Marist poll of New Hampshire voters conducted in late November, when he finished with just 2 percent of the votes.
Mr. Gingrich has taken a nose dive in New Hampshire, in the late November poll he garnered 24 percent of the votes. The former House Speaker finished the poll with 9 percent of the votes, tied with former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman.
Mr. Huntsman has slightly declined in New Hampshire after a surge in popularity in a mid December poll.
“New Hampshire is a very different ballgame than Iowa,” said Lee Miringoff, the director of Marist College’s Institute for Public Opinion.
Although Mr. Romney is the likely favorite to win New Hampshire, the state where he has a residence, Mr. Santorum his hoping that a top tier finish can continue bolstering Republican voters confidence in him which would carry over into South Carolina.
The former Pennsylvania senator garnered 24 percentage points in the latest Rasmussen Reports poll of likely South Carolina primary voters, a 23 percent increase from the November Rasmussen poll of South Carolina voters.
In a move that signals awareness of Mr. Santorum’s surge in South Carolina, Mr. Romney made a campaign stop in Myrtle Beach Friday and he is also running television advertisements there and in Florida, the next two primary elections after New Hampshire.
Mr. Santorum’s popularity in New Hampshire is rising according to the NBC poll, however he has drawn boos from crowds at several campaign stops in the Granite state over the past two days for his views on gay marriage.
The NBC/Marist poll was conducted between January 4th and 5th among 2,260 registered voters in New Hampshire with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.
