A new poll from Suffolk University finds Donald Trump surging to second place in New Hampshire. Jeb Bush remains in first place with fourteen percent of the vote. Trump is in second with eleven percent. All other candidates are in the single digits.
New Hampshire has been a bright spot for Trump polling-wise. He has consistently done well in the state and this poll is higher than previous polls. New Hampshire primary voters tend to support fringe and maverick candidates. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders has polled strongest in New Hampshire.
Governor Scott Walker (WI), Senator Marco Rubio (FL), and Dr. Ben Carson round out the top five. Walker captures eight percent of the vote, Rubio seven, and Carson six. Governor Chris Christie (NJ) who has been focusing on New Hampshire as he works his way back into the national discussion, had five percent of the vote. However, twenty-nine percent of respondents said that they were undecided on who to vote for.
The poll is a tad quirky based off the amount of candidates it included. Nineteen different candidates were included. It also included former Governor Bob Ehrlich (MD), former IRS commissioner Mark Everson, and former Governor Jim Gilmore (VA). Of those three, only Everson has announced a presidential run.
The poll also asks what candidates the voters would like to see included in the Republican debates. Fox News and CNN have both announced their criteria and format for the debates and Fox’s, which is first, is based upon polling and limits it to the top ten places. Bush tops that poll with eighty-three respondents saying he should be on the stage. Rubio follows with eighty percent of the vote. Despite placing second in the main poll, only sixty percent said that wanted Trump to be included. Trump placed eleventh on the matter of inclusion. Showing that voters would like to have an inclusive debate, all but three candidates had a majority support for admittance. The only three that did not have majority support are the Ehrlich, Everson, and Gilmore.
While Donald Trump does place second, it is not all good news for the businessman. His favorability ratings are underwater, with thirty-seven percent holding a favorable opinion while forty-nine percent hold an unfavorable opinion. Trump is the only Republican, whose name was tested, that had underwater favorability ratings.