Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney hold the leads in their respective New Hampshire primary races, a new Monitor poll shows. But it's not all good news for the top two: The poll finds each would face thornier challenges in the state's general election than others would.

In the Republican primary, 27 percent back Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, while 20 percent pick former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and 16 percent choose Arizona Sen. John McCain. Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson, who hasn't announced yet, debuts at 15 percent, his numbers appearing to take directly from McCain, a close friend.

In the Democratic primary, 33 percent choose Clinton, the New York senator, while 25 percent pick Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and 15 percent go with former vice presidential nominee John Edwards. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson snags 7 percent in the poll.

Even if they win their primaries, Clinton and Romney each face steep roads, favorability numbers and head-to-head match-ups show.

Pollster Del Ali - whose Research 2000 firm conducted the poll for the Monitor last week - said Romney "just doesn't seem viable" in the general election. Meanwhile, he proclaimed Clinton's primary strength to be the only "silver lining" for Republicans; looking at the numbers, he said, Republicans may be uniquely competitive against her.

For now, the Republican race appears to be in a state of flux, said Charlie Arlinghaus, a former executive director of the state Republican Party, who said the Democratic race seems a lot easier to call.

"I think it's much more likely, much easier to predict that Clinton is likely to be the Democratic nominee than to predict the Republican side," said Arlinghaus, now president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy. "She has a much stronger base that she can't lose."

For the primary contests, 400 likely voters in each primary were sampled, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent. The general election results were compiled from 600 likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.

Overall, the poll found an atmosphere ripe for Democratic victory. Support for the Iraq war is at an all-time low, as is approval for President Bush - and a majority of those polled, 52 percent, said they would support impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney. In head-to-head matches, the top three Democrats beat the top three Republicans in every case but one (Giuliani versus Edwards).

Hurdles ahead

The poll also found challenges on the general election horizon for Romney and Clinton. Neither is the strongest in head-to-head matches with candidates from the other party. And the voter pool as a whole likes each less than they do the runner-up in each race.

For Romney, 35 percent of voters see him favorably, but 41 percent see him unfavorably, giving him a net favorability rating of negative six. Giuliani's net favorability is plus 14. On the Democratic side, Clinton's net rating is plus 7; Obama's is plus 17.

In head-to-head match-ups with each of the top Democrats, Giuliani does best; Romney fares poorest in every case, never cracking 40 percent.

"That's interesting, because he spent a lot of money in the state on advertising," said Linda Fowler, a Dartmouth government professor. "He's basically been saying that he's the guy who can win because he can both appeal to the conservative base and also appeal to moderates. And you'd think in New Hampshire - which was his backyard when he was governor - that doesn't look too convincing, does it?"

Ali, the pollster, said Romney appears to lack support outside the Republican base.

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