If it is within 30 days ( double check with HD, may be even longer ) return it and get another one or better yet go somewhere buy a better one. If it is within the return period, don't even think about doing anything, they have a good return policy.

Gasoline in the US remains stable for only one month after purchase according to the Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer company. You can use their product to prevent fuel seperation for 3 months maybe longer. If its going to be longer than this between uses of any gas powered equipment, learn to drain the fuel mix and then restart the engine to empty the filter, lines and carb. Once those small carbs fill up with varnish, its hard to clean them out. You can take the carb off the saw and soak it in 'JetSpray', if this is the problem.

There should also be a set of jets on the carb that will allow the owner to adjust the mixture settings. The jet that is closest to the cylinder is always the main jet, with the other one being the high speed jet. Open the main jet by turning it counter-clockwise and this will richen the mixture. 1/4 to 1/2 a turn should be enough. Generally the engine needs to run a little bit rich so that the acceleration is responsive. Air temperature can throw off the settings. Vibration can also change the settings.

In later years now that Electrolux owns the brand name 'Poulan', they have done their best to cheapen the brand. If your saw is a new one, you might not even be able to make these adjustments because of splined jet heads on some models. This type of jet requires you to have a special tool to make the adjustments. I do not believe that Poulan will even sell you the tool because it is a dealer only item? If this is the case, you can buy the tool on ebay for around $10. This upsets me so that I wont buy anything Electrolux anymore. What good is owning one of their saws or trimmers that you cannot adjust? You may have to take the saw in for service, in which case have the technician notch the jets so that the next time the engine needs some slight adjustment you can do it with a small flatblade screwdriver.

Good luck,
Bob.