A new poll of likely New Hampshire Republican voters shows former President Donald Trump far outpacing his nearest competitors.
Trump now holds a 20 percentage point lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (42 percent to 22 percent), according to the University of New Hampshire’s Granite State Poll.
As is the case with so many other polls, Trump’s numbers have only gone up in New Hampshire following his unprecedented indictment and arrest in a fraud case led by Manhattan’s hyper-partisan Democrat district attorney Alvin Bragg.
The online survey of 1,886 respondents was conducted April 13-17 and included 818 likely Republican primary voters and 700 likely Democratic primary voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.7 percent.
Things have changed dramatically since January’s Granite State Poll, when DeSantis led Trump by double digits, 42 percent to 30 percent among likely GOP primary voters. DeSantis’ support has declined markedly among self-described libertarians (-45%), conservatives (-39%), as well as among women (28%).
“And despite being recently indicted in New York and facing other potential indictments, or perhaps because of the legal troubles, former President Trump is the leading candidate for the Republican nomination in the New Hampshire primary,” the poll’s press release states.
New Hampshire governor and favorite son Chris Sununu garnered 12 percent support from respondents while Trump-hating former Wyoming U.S. Representative Liz Cheney received 4 percent. The 3-percenters include Ohio businessman and anti-woke crusader Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. The rest of the 14-person field of candidates, including U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, each check in with 2 percent or lower support.
Since January, support for Trump has increased 12 percentage points, and 8 points for Sununu, while DeSantis’ star has fallen 21 points.
The New Hampshire poll reflects the latest national polling averages, showing Trump up by nearly 29 points over DeSantis, his closest competitor.
A recently conducted Yahoo News/YouGov poll appears to be a bit of an outlier, showing Trump’s lead over DeSantis declining by 10 points. Yet Trump is still up 16 points (52 percent to 36 percent) in that poll of 1,530 adults, conducted April 14-17. Yahoo News declared Trump’s “big post-indictment bounce is fading fast.”
The Florida governor, who is expected to officially announce his run for the White House after the end of his state’s legislative session early next month, is the clear second choice among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire.
According to the Granite State Poll, DeSantis is the second option for 30 percent of respondents, compared to Trump (14 percent), Sununu (10 percent), Ramaswamy (8 percent), and Haley (7 percent).
Trump and DeSantis have been publicly sparring in recent weeks, with the former president hitting DeSantis particularly hard on his declining poll numbers.
A majority of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire (57 percent) say it’s more important that the parry nominate someone who shares their positions on the main issues, while 39 percent say its more important to nominate a candidate who can beat the Democrat nominated for president. Another 4 percent were unsure, according to the poll.
DeSantis remains the most popular candidate among likely 2024 Republican voters, with 63 percent holding a favorable view of the governor. Trump’s favourability rating checks in at 59 percent, followed by Sununu at 49 percent. Many of the candidates were unknown to significant portion of the respondents.
“It is critical to remember that voters have not made up their minds who they will eventually vote for,” said Andrew Smith, director of the University Survey Center. “Past research has indicated that approximately half of voters have not made up their minds as late as a week before the election.”
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
