Mitt Romney has said time and time again that he is not running for president.

However, a new poll shows that the former Massachusetts governor’s nonexistent campaign would lead the field in New Hampshire, if only he were to launch a third run for president (which he’d now have to do as a write-in candidate having missed the state’s filing deadline).

According to a Suffolk/Boston Globe poll of likely Granite State primary voters, if Romney was added to crowd of GOP presidential hopefuls, he would lead the field with 31 percent of the vote — more than double that of current frontrunner Donald Trump.


With Romney out of the mix — which, again, is his current status — Trump reasserts his lead with 22 percent of likely primary voters, topping Marco Rubio at 11 percent, Ben Carson at 10 percent, and John Kasich and Ted Cruz, both at nine percent. Seventeen percent of those surveyed remained undecided.

When Romney was included, 30 percent of the overall field would jump ship from their first-choice candidate. Nearly two-thirds of Jeb Bush’s less-than-eight-percent support dissipated. Even nearly a third of Trump supporters switched their pick when Romney is added.

Last week, Bloomberg released a poll testing the favorability ratings of Romney compared to the 2016 Republican presidential candidates. With the exception of Carson (67 percent) and Rubio (67 percent), Romney (60 percent) had higher favorability among registered and leaning Republicans than any other 2016 hopeful.

The polls aren’t the only ones interested in a 2016 Romney candidacy. Earlier this month, the Washington Post, which has been playing this game for awhile now, reported that Romney’s friends “have mapped out a strategy for a late entry to pick up delegates and vie for the nomination in a convention fight.’’ CNN reported that, indeed, Romney’s circle had received calls pleading for him to consider “being a lifeline to the Republican primary and its chaotic primary fight.’’


Romney, however, has shown “no signs’’ that he’s changed his mind about not running, according to CNN.

“I think the American people want to see a new face,’’ Romney told the network in October.

Apparently not in New Hampshire. But where does one find the time, when they’ve got a new Lake Winnipesaukee boat house to build.