The gloves have officially come off in the Granite State between the top two candidates in the First in the Nation Republican primary. A new poll shows voters’ “first choice” on the ballot is former President Donald Trump, coming in at 50%. Haley is second at 34%, with Ron DeSantis at just 5%.
Former President Donald Trump has solidified his lead in New Hampshire ahead of the state's first-in-the-nation primary, and Nikki Haley is firmly in second, with Ron DeSantis a distant third, according to a new Suffolk University/NBC10 Boston/Boston Globe tracking poll.
The poll results, released Wednesday morning, have Trump at 50%, Haley at 34% and DeSantis with only 5%. Another 3% chose someone else, 6% were undecided and 2% refused to answer. The survey of 500 likely Republican primary voters was conducted from Jan. 15-16. The margin of error is 4.4%.
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New tracking polls will be released every day leading up to the Jan. 23 primary. Check NBC10Boston.com every day at 5 a.m. to see the latest results.
You can read the full poll results below:
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Among independents, Haley beats trump by a 44% to 38% margin, while Trump leads among Republicans, 61% to 24%. Among those who consider themselves moderates or liberals, Haley leads 56% to 27%, while conservatives chose Trump by a wide 67% to 18% margin.
Asked for their second choice, those surveyed chose DeSantis at 30%, followed by Haley at 10% and Trump at 7%.
According to a FiveThirtyEight database, other recent New Hampshire polls conducted this month have had Haley within striking distance or even tied with Trump. But the latest Suffolk University/NBC10 Boston/Boston Globe poll shows Trump is still holding onto a substantial lead less than a week before ballots are cast.
The poll also indicates that New Hampshire voters already have their minds mostly made up. About 92% of those surveyed said they are likely to vote in Tuesday's primary and 87% said they are either "not at all likely" or "not very likely" to change their minds.
When Haley voters were asked if their vote was more a vote for Haley or against Trump, 54% said it was a vote for Haley and 37% a vote against Trump. When the tables were turned, 90% of Trump voters said their vote was for Trump, versus only 5% who said it was more of a vote against Haley.
Trump, Haley and DeSantis are all scheduled to be in New Hampshire this week ahead of next week's primary. Trump held an event in Atkinson on Tuesday, while Haley held a rally in the White Mountains. DeSantis' scheduled Town Hall in Claremont was canceled due to poor weather conditions. Check our regularly updated New Hampshire Primary 2024 candidate tracker for the latest details.
