New Hampshire polls show Haley is narrowing gap
Two new polls in New Hampshire show the Republican race narrowing there, in one case drastically, with two weeks to go before the state holds its primary.
A CNN/University of New Hampshire poll released Tuesday found a gap of just 7 percentage points between former President Donald Trump, at 39%, and Nikki Haley, at 32%. That is a much narrower margin than CNN found in its last New Hampshire poll in November, when Trump led Haley by 22 points.
At the same time, a USA Today/Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll also released Tuesday found Trump ahead by 20 points: 46% to Haley’s 26%. That, too, is a significant improvement for Haley from the last edition of the same poll in October, which showed Trump leading by 30 points — but it paints a very different picture of the result, underscoring both the uncertainty of polling and the volatility of the race.
The other candidates were far behind in both polls. The CNN poll found Chris Christie at 12%, Vivek Ramaswamy at 8% and Ron DeSantis at 5%. USA Today found Christie at 12%, DeSantis at 8% and Ramaswamy at 2%.
Although Haley is also fighting hard in Iowa, which will hold its caucuses Monday, New Hampshire is particularly important for her because its more moderate Republican electorate — and the fact that independents can vote in the primary — make it the most fertile ground for opponents of Trump. The state’s governor, Chris Sununu, endorsed her last month.
Haley’s campaign is hoping that, if she can squeeze ahead of DeSantis in Iowa — where he has generally been polling in second behind Trump — and then perform strongly in New Hampshire, she can drive DeSantis out and establish herself as the single viable alternative to Trump as the race turns to her home state, South Carolina.
On the Democratic side, both polls Tuesday found President Joe Biden miles ahead of two challengers, Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, even though his name will not be on the ballot because the Democratic primary in New Hampshire is being held earlier than the party authorized. His supporters are organizing a write-in campaign. The CNN poll showed him at 69%, and the USA Today poll at 64%, with Phillips and Williamson in single digits.
The USA Today poll also showed that Democrats and independents in New Hampshire view the future of democracy as the most important issue facing the country — above the typical political driver of the economy. Republican voters viewed immigration and border security as the most important issue.