Trump Lead Grows: Latest Poll Sees Donald Trump Expand Lead In New Hampshire Primary
It is now two days away from the first primary of the 2016 election season, and Donald Trump has widened his lead against the rest of the Republican field. The latest polling out of New Hampshire shows Trump leading with 33 percent, while Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are battling for second and third with 16 percent and 14 percent respectively. The only other Republican that is polling in double digits is John Kasich at 11 percent.
Trump’s numbers in New Hampshire have been up and down over the last couple of weeks. At the height of his lead, Trump was up by 24 points. After his second place finish in Iowa, Trump’s New Hampshire lead shrank to 11 points. Up until recently, Ted Cruz was the candidate trailing Trump in New Hampshire but that changed after the surprising surge of Marco Rubio in Iowa. Rubio came out of nowhere to come in third in Iowa, almost edging Trump out of second place. Based on Rubio’s Iowa surge, Rubio has overtaken Cruz for second place in New Hampshire.
This latest poll was completed shortly before the Republican debate that took place on Saturday night. Polls that take into account the debate performance will be out tomorrow, or early Tuesday morning. Political experts have not been able to come to a consensus about who won the debate. The majority of experts say that the three governors; Bush, Kasich, and Christie had their best debates to date. The consensus among the experts is also that Rubio may have had his worst debate after Christie exposed him about being robotic and having a memorized 25-second speech that he is programmed to give. Rubio gave that programmed response three times Saturday night while Christie called him out on it.
Donald Trump says of #GOPDebate audience: “The reason they’re not loving me is, I don’t want their money.” pic.twitter.com/WXRLUjrhSO
— ABC News (@ABC) February 7, 2016
Donald Trump’s performance was said not to have been his best debate but it was also stated that his performance did not hurt him either. Trump is still expected to come away with the win in New Hampshire which would give him extra momentum to carry him into the South Carolina and Nevada primaries. Trump is polling in the lead in both of those states as well. During one of his rallies in New Hampshire, Trump made sure to remind people that since he was funding his own campaign, he didn’t have any friends that he owed favors too.
“I have no friends, as far as I’m concerned. You know who my friends are? You’re my friends. I don’t need your money, I need your vote.”
On the Democrat side, Bernie Sanders has a huge lead against Hillary Clinton. Sanders currently holds a lead of 23 percent over the former Secretary of State. Sanders representing Vermont in the United States Senate has always had a large lead against Clinton in New Hampshire. With New Hampshire being a neighboring state of Vermont, Sanders clearly has a home field advantage.
The New Hampshire primary is all about Bernie Sanders: https://t.co/pLZ3Imlzy0 pic.twitter.com/kuIySG7l1o
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) February 7, 2016
New Hampshire has prided themselves as being the first state in the country to have their primary, kicking off the election season. Other states have tried to take away the first primary from New Hampshire, but all have failed.
Barring something catastrophic, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders will easily come out on top once the votes are counted Tuesday night. The story of the night could very well end up being who came in second for the Republicans. Will Marco Rubio be able to parlay his Iowa surge into a second-place finish in New Hampshire? Will someone else come out of nowhere with their own surge to finish in the top three on the Republican side?
Do you think Donald Trump will maintain his lead and win New Hampshire on Tuesday?
[Image Via AP Photo/David Goldman]
