Early NH Exit Polls: Voters Look for Electability
Early results from exit polls in New Hampshire show that many voters say that the Republican nominee should be the candidate who can best take on President Obama.
"About a third of voters are saying they're most interested in electability - the candidate who has the best chance to defeat Obama," ABC News' Gary Langer, of Langer Research Associates writes. "Just over a quarter are looking for the most experienced candidate and about a quarter say they care most about strong moral character. Far fewer - about one in seven voters - say they're looking mainly for a true conservative, a contrast from last week when a quarter of Iowa caucus-goers said so.
"In a separate question about electability, Romney leads by far as the candidate seen as most likely to defeat Obama - more than half of voters pick the former Massachusetts governor," Langer writes. "Among his own supporters, Romney's named by 95 percent as best able to beat Obama in November - but among voters who are supporting some other candidate tonight, three in 10 also pick Romney as likeliest to beat Obama."
Six in 10 voters (in preliminary results) say they'd be satisfied with Mitt Romney as the nominee. He leads the other candidates in this category.