Vermont’s Presidential primary looks to be passing by like a thief in the night. The voting is eight days away, and there’s been a lot more attention paid to the Burlington mayoral race than to the Romney/Santorum/Paul/Gingrich clusterf– er, contest. None of the Republican candidates are bothering to stick their noses into the state — not even for a quick speech in a Burlington Airport hangar, a la Dick Cheney.

But hey, we’ve got some actual primary news! The Castleton Polling Institute has released its first poll of the 2012 Presidential campaign. Phone survey of 800 “likely voters,” conducted between 2/11 and 2/22, margin of error plus/minus 3.5%.

The topline in Castleton’s press release: Mitt Romney is the favorite in the Vermont primary. The topline, as far as I’m concerned, is the narrowness of his lead. Romney has 34%, Rick “Santorum” Santorum 27%, Ron Paul 14%, and Newt Gingrich 10%. (By my math, that leaves 15% either undecided or supporting others. Seems like a high number so close to primary day.)

After the jump: Support both firm and frothy, Obama landslide in the works, and broad support for a campaign-finance constitutional amendment.

The survey does contain a bit more good news for Romney:

Romney’s support is firmer, with 55 percent of Santorum supporters saying that they are either somewhat or very likely to change their minds before election day.

If Romney’s support is firmer, is it fair to say that Santorum’s is frothier? Sorry, couldn’t resist. Anyway, that is a sign that Romney can hope for a wider margin of victory next Tuesday.

But still. Vermont’s Republican electorate leans heavily toward fiscal conservatism, which is Romney’s wheelhouse. There’s not much in the way of Religious Right or even Tea Party influence. (Indeed, the survey says that only 7% of Republicans surveyed consider themselves to be “very conservative.”) And Romney’s only up by seven percent?

Am I alone in thinking that’s a pathetic showing for Mitt? I’d expect him to be skunking this field in Vermont by 15-20 points.  But of course, this is perfectly in line with his performance to date in the primary season: considering the “quality” of his opposition and the resources at his command, he should be marching triumphantly to the Convention instead of having to kick, bite and scratch for every delegate.

Other tidbits from the Castleton poll:

As far as Vermont’s electoral votes are concerned, it doesn’t matter who wins the nomination; he’ll be obliterated by Obama in November. Obama beats Romney by 26, Santorum by 28, Paul by 30, and Newt by 42. (A moment of schadenfreude, if you please, for the selt-described Defender of Civilization who is now far less electable in Vermont than Ron Paul.)

76% of Vermont voters favor a constitutional amendment to limit campaign spending — including 57% of Vermont Republicans.

58% of those surveyed are in favor of four-year terms for Governor.

So there you go. The first, and possibly last, GMD diary on the Vermont primary. You may now go back to ignoring the whole thing.