By James Pindell
PORTSMOUTH,
N.H. — Front-runner Donald Trump holds a nearly 10 percentage point lead over
his rivals in New Hampshire’s Republican primary race, but Senator Marco Rubio
is closing the gap in the final days, according to a new poll released Friday.
Twenty-nine
percent of voters surveyed said they backed Trump, and Rubio of Florida took
second place with 19 percent. That’s the highest level of support Rubio has
shown in any public survey since Trump entered the race in the summer.
The
Suffolk University/Boston Globe survey also showed former secretary of state
Hillary Clinton in striking distance of Senator Bernie Sanders, who has a 9
percentage point lead in the Democratic primary.
A
sizable majority of Democrats seem to have made up their minds, and a smaller
portion of Republican voters questioned said they were certain of their choice
in Tuesday’s primary. While 33 percent of Republicans in the poll said they
could change their minds over the closing weekend, just 13 percent of Democrats
said the same.
In
the Republican race, Ohio Governor John Kasich placed third in the poll with 13
percent, former Florida governor Jeb Bush had 10 percent , US Senator Ted
Cruz had 7 percent, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie fell to 5 percent, and
Ben Carson had 4 percent.
Cruz
won Monday’s Iowa caucuses, while Trump had a disappointing second-place
finish, and Rubio finished closely in third.
“What
a difference a caucus makes,” said David Paleologos, director of the Political
Research Center at Suffolk University. “By exceeding expectations in Iowa,
Marco Rubio is converting likability to electability, even more so than Ted
Cruz, who, like many conservative Iowa winners of the past like Mike Huckabee
and Rick Santorum, can’t seem to convert an Iowa win into a major showing in
New Hampshire.”
Trump
has led every poll of the New Hampshire primary since he announced his
campaign.
The
poll also showed that Sanders, who is from neighboring Vermont, leads Clinton,
50 percent to 41 percent, with 8 percent undecided.
The
key factor contributing to Sanders’ lead over Clinton is his advantage among
independent voters, who favor him over Clinton, 57 percent to 30 percent.
Sanders also leads among men, 59 percent to 30 percent, and in the areas along
the Vermont state line, 60 percent to 32 percent
