Poll: Donald Trump Edges Ahead in New Hampshire; A
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A new poll of likely voters in New Hampshire by MassINC Polling Group for Boston-area public radio station WBUR shows Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump one point ahead of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The gap is well inside the poll’s 4.4% margin of error.
Trump has the support of 40% of likely voters in the Granite State, followed by 39% for Clinton. Fully 10% say they will vote for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein picks up 3%.
The poll also shows Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) six points ahead of her Democratic challenger, Gov. Maggie Hassan. In the race for governor, Republican Chris Sununu — son of Bush operative, Romney surrogate, and Trump supporter John Sununu — leads Democrat Colin Van Ostern by five points.
Trump is scheduled to visit New Hampshire at least twice in the four days remaining before Election Day, hoping to carry forward his momentum. The Clinton campaign has also scheduled two visits there. Coincidentally, both campaigns are planning to be in the state on the same days, Friday and Monday, though Clinton is not scheduled to visit personally.
WBUR’s Anthony Brooks elaborates:
“The race really couldn’t be closer in New Hampshire at the moment,” said Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group, which conducts the WBUR survey.
Among the most striking findings of the poll is how much voters continue to dislike both candidates. Only 37 percent of respondents have a favorable view of Trump, which is up slightly from three weeks ago. While just 36 percent have a favorable view of Clinton, which is down a bit.
So for the first time, Clinton is viewed slightly less favorably than Trump.
The poll was conducted from Saturday through Tuesday, meaning it was held after voters heard the news that the FBI was re-opening its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s rogue email server.
Trump announced the news to an audience of 2,500 cheering supporters at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Friday afternoon.
New Hampshire has four Electoral College votes. Although it is historically a conservative state, it has cast been won by the Democratic candidate since 2000.