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He has glad-handed at Mexican restaurants in Iowa, searched out enclaves of Latinos in New Hampshire and jabbered away in Spanish in California.

For all that work, though, Gov. Bill Richardson isn't as popular as you might think among Hispanics - at least according to one measurement.

A new Associated Press/Ipsos poll shows Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York has nine times the support among Hispanics that Richardson has, and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has more than three times the backing.

The poll, done over the phone, queried 1,004 Republicans and Democrats from July 9-11.

Among respondents who are Hispanic, Clinton garnered 45 percent, while Obama received 17 percent. Richardson, whose mother is Mexican, was the favorite of just 5 percent of Hispanics, the poll found.

Richardson's campaign downplays the survey, and predicts his numbers will rise.

"These early national polls reflect mostly name recognition, and the other candidates are better known," spokesman Pahl Shipley said. "Our strategy is focused on the early primary states where the governor's numbers are clearly rising. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and we're confident the national numbers will follow."

The campaign pointed to another recent survey, done by a New Hampshire TV station and CNN, that shows Richardson holding steady at 11 percent while former Sen. John Edwards has fallen to 9 percent among registered voters in the Granite State.

While he's rising in other polls, Richardson needs to be popular with the small but growing Hispanic population in order to win in the early primary states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Richardson's poor rating among Hispanics in the national poll came as a surprise to University of Arizona professor John Garcia, who called his 5 percent showing "real, real low."

"He seems to be hitting all the meetings. He went to the (National Association of Latino Elected Officials) in Florida," Garcia said of a trip the governor made to Orlando in late June.

"He's being where he needs to be for that support," Garcia said.

Richardson also was the first candidate to agree to a Spanish-language presidential debate sponsored by Univision later this year.

Garcia said Hispanic voters who chose other candidates might like Richardson but think other Democratic candidates have a better chance.

"Maybe it's a calculated thing that they want to support someone else," he said.

Richardson's last name probably has nothing to do with his lack of popularity among Hispanics, Garcia said, because he typically is introduced as a Hispanic leader.

But, Garcia said, "Whatever he's saying isn't resonating or drawing attention."

But Richardson's poll numbers don't raise eyebrows for Albuquerque pollster Brian Sanderoff, in part because the poll included relatively small sample size of Hispanics and because it was conducted among adults, regardless of whether they voted in the last election, he said.

"Name recognition still plays an important role in these national polls. This isn't likely voters or caucus-goers in Iowa - this is a national poll," Sanderoff said.

"I suspect he would have done a little better had it been a poll of likely Hispanic voters among adults."

University of New Mexico political science professor Christine Sierra agreed that the poll might not reflect Richardson's true popularity for many of the reasons cited by Sanderoff.

Because the poll was among all adults, and not just voters, she said, "That's a wild card in terms of how much they might know about Richardson."

And it makes sense that Clinton would be popular with Hispanics, Sierra said, because she has greater name recognition than the governor and because former President Clinton is popular with Hispanics.

Richardson, who grew up in Mexico City, at times has focused on his ethnicity, but has said he doesn't want to be known as a Hispanic candidate only.

While Richardson has the endorsement of some popular Hispanic Democrats, such as Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, he didn't get the support of national players, such as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

To boost his support from Hispanics, Sierra suggested Richardson get his face into American living rooms more than he has.

"He's going to have to do a lot more TV," she said. "He needs a lot more exposure."