Richardson winning in N.M. poll, but not by much

A new poll conducted by students in a New Mexico State University government class shows that Gov. Bill Richardson can’t even take New Mexico for granted in his presidential run.

The poll, conducted by students in Jose Garcia’s political research skills course, found that 33 percent of Democrats in New Mexico preferred Richardson, while Hillary Clinton had support of 23 percent, Barack Obama had 19 percent and John Edwards had 18 percent, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. The remainder selected “other” or were undecided, the newspaper reported.

Among Republicans surveyed, 34 percent favored Rudy Giuliani, 23 percent favored John McCain, 9 percent favored Mitt Romney and 37 percent favored another candidate or were undecided.

The survey of 205 New Mexicans was conducted April 3-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percent.

When the students put all the candidates in the mix and asked all respondents who they favored, regardless of party affiliation, Richardson also came out on top, with 17 percent favoring him, the Sun-News reported. However, 30 percent were undecided.