While real estate magnate Donald Trump retained a commanding lead, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) are now tied at second place in New Hampshire, according to a Monmouth University poll released Monday.
Trump polled at 32 percent among likely Republican voters in New Hampshire while Cruz and Kasich tied at 14 percent.
Cruz has jumped 5 points since the last Monmouth poll, which was taken in November 2015. Kasich, who has polled in double digits in New Hampshire since September, jumped 3 points.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was the only other candidate to poll in double digits. He earned 12 percent, marking a slight, one-point decline for the freshman senator since the November poll.
Another notable change is the plunging support for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. In the November 2015 poll, Carson polled at 16 percent in the Granite State. Today, Carson polled at 3 percent.
The New Hampshire Republican primary is Feb. 9. With just under a month to go, 32 percent of those surveyed said they are “completely decided” on their candidate, a 12-point increase since last year.
The poll was conducted from Jan. 7-10 by phone among 414 voters likely to vote in the Republican presidential primary. It had a margin of error of 4.8 percentage points.
I thought that Chris Christie was SURGING in NH… I guess not, and I also thought that Jeb? would be doing better in NH too…
Glad to see rubio doing so badly . . . . his announced plan to peak just before the new year seems to be not working . . . . he’s clearly not ready for prime time and even republicans are waking up to that fact.