Kasich up in New Hampshire poll
80% of state GOP voters consider voting for him.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich is up to third place in New Hampshire, according to a presidential election poll released Wednesday.
The American Research Group poll puts Kasich at 13 percent in the state, behind Donald Trump at 21 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 15 percent. The Ohio governor leads New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (12 percent), Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (10 percent), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (7 percent), retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (6 percent), former HewlettPackard CEO Carly Fiorina (5 percent) and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (4 percent).
Several political commentators on social media pointed to another statistic in the poll: who New Hampshire voters say they’re considering. Slightly more than 80 percent of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire said they’re considering voting for Kasich — only Sen. Marco Rubio had more potential New Hampshire voters (83 percent).
Meanwhile, 37 percent of Granite State voters are considering voting for Donald Trump — the lowest of the 13 candidates included in the poll.
In addition, 57 percent of those polled said they would never vote for Trump. The next highest was Bush with 47 percent and Paul at 40 percent. Only 16 percent of voters said they wouldn’t vote for Kasich, while Rubio had the lowest at 11 percent.
Stuart Stevens, a top strategist for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential, told this newspaper via social media that he expects Trump’s support to fade.
“Trump has no policy or ideas to engage voters, so this (trend is) likely to accelerate. He has no second act,” Stevens wrote.
However, recent polls show Trump’s support hasn’t faded in New Hampshire.
According to the most recent RealClearPolitics.com poll average, Kasich is in sixth place in New Hampshire, with 7.7 percent. Trump, who has led the state since late July, leads the website’s aggregate poll with 28.3 percent.
The American Research Group poll randomly surveyed 600 likely Republican primary voters by telephone between Sunday and Tuesday. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The New Hampshire primary will take place on Feb. 9, eight days after the Iowa caucuses.