NH Republicans Not Pining for Palin

There's been a lot of talk during this presidential campaign about how the current slate of Republican candidates is lacking that spark, that certain something needed to capture voters' imagination.

That's led to a whole lot of discussion about whether potential candidates such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie might jump into the race.

But according to a survey of GOP leaders in New Hampshire and two other early-voting states, most main street Republicans appear to be satisfied with the candidates they have to choose from now.

Sixty-three percent of the 169 people responding to the Patch-Huffington Post Power Outsiders poll of Republican voters in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina said they are satisfied with the candidates now running for president, while just 36 percent say they want to see more candidates get into the race.

When asked who, if anyone, they would like to see enter the race, 31 percent of those polled mentioned Christie, 17 percent mentioned Ryan, 8 percent mentioned Palin, and 4 percent named Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee and Mitch Daniels. Nine percent mentioned someone else.

The results come from the second in a series of weekly surveys looking to gauge what outside-the-beltway Republicans think of the race for the GOP nomination. Each week, our local Patch editors will be asking influential New Hampshire Republicans questions about the presidential campaign, and we'll report the results here.

We’re still looking to expand our list of influential members of both parties in New Hampshire. If you’d like to participate, email marc.fortier@patch.com and we’ll connect you with the appropriate Patch reporter.