The latest Granite State Poll from the UNH Survey Center shows 1st District congressional candidate Carol Shea-Porter is nearly 20 points behind incumbent Republican Jeb Bradley. Last week, Shea-Porter introduced two well-known Democrats as co-chairmen of her campaign. Jim Craig is the Democratic leader in the New Hampshire House and Bill Shaheen is a Democratic activist and the husband of former three-term governor Jeanne Shaheen. Craig lost the primary to Shea-Porter, but did win all 12 wards in Manchester, where she made the announcement.  

The Survey Center also released the first poll for the state’s 2008 presidential primary. The pollsters surveyed 515 likely voters in September regarding who they would be most likely and least likely to vote for in the GOP or Democratic primary. Then, for the first time, they subtracted one result from the other to come up with a net popularity rating. Full results are available at www.unh.edu/survey-center/press.html, but in general, poll director Andy Smith says they reflect name recognition.

“Net popularity” results in the Republican primary put former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on top at 15 percent, followed by Arizona Sen. John McCain with 13 percent, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has not indicated an interest in running, with 5 percent and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 4 percent. Democrats rated Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s net popularity at negative 7 percent, and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s at 16 percent. In between were former Vice President Al Gore with negative 5 percent and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards with 12 percent.