Poll: Romney Maintains Big N.H. Lead

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney goes into Thursday night's Republican presidential debate with encouraging news from New Hampshire.

A new WHDH-TV/Suffolk University poll finds Romney still in the lead in the GOP presidential race there. Forty-one percent of likely voters in the New Hampshire Republican primary said they would vote for Romney, or they are leaning toward him.

"The nearest competitor, in second place, is [Texas Rep.] Ron Paul at 14 percent, followed by [former Utah Gov.] Jon Huntsman, at 10 percent, and then [Texas Gov.] Rick Perry is fourth, with just 8 percent of the vote," said David Paleologos, who conducted the poll.

Paleologos says he is surprised to see Perry doing so poorly. Almost as many New Hampshire Republicans and independents have an unfavorable impression of Perry as they do a favorable one.

One thing is for sure: in New Hampshire, at least, this is not a two-person race between Romney and Perry.