The New Hampshire Libertarian Party was a qualified party between November 1990 and November 1996. In 1997, after the party had lost its status for failing to poll 3% for Governor, the legislature boosted the vote test to 4% (for either Governor or U.S. Senator), and no party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties had been ballot-qualified since in New Hampshire.

On October 21, the Concord Monitor published polls for Governor and U.S. Senator. The poll only mentioned the two major party nominees. The results for Governor: Democrat John Lynch 60%, Republican Joe Kenney 34%, “other/undecided” 6%. For U.S. Senate: Jeanne Shaheen 50%, Republican John Sununu 43%, “other/undecided” 7%. Since the Libertarian nominees (Susan Newell for Governor and Ken Blevens for U.S. Senate) are the only other choices on the ballot, the poll tends to support the idea that either one of them, or both, may hit 4%. The Concord Monitor is very unthougthful to pay for a poll that only mentions two of the three ballot-listed candidates, if the newspaper is really interested in getting high-quality poll results.