Ben Carson is closer than ever to toppling Donald Trump in New Hampshire, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
The retired neurosurgeon earns 16 percent support in the latest WBUR survey of Republican voters in the Granite State, putting him just two percentage points behind Trump, 18 percent, and well within the margin of error against the New York billionaire.
Both outsider candidates have experienced a slight decline in support since the NPR affiliate last surveyed GOP voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state. Trump has fallen four points since September, when he stood at 22 percent, while Carson’s support has shrunk by two percentage points.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio rounds out the top three with 11 percent support, marking a huge leap from his seventh-place position in September when he tied with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 2 percent. Christie, meanwhile, has risen to fifth place with 8 percent support in the WBUR poll.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz have each jumped 1 percentage point, making them the only other GOP candidates to have seen a slight uptick in support since September. Kasich is in fourth place at 10 percent, while Cruz ties with Carly Fiorina at 6 percent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush maintains a one-point lead over Cruz and Fiorina with 7 percent support in the latest poll.
While Carson continues to lead the GOP field as the most-liked candidate in the earliest primary state, with a favorability rating of 63 percent, Christie’s numbers have improved the most since September. Fifty-one percent of New Hampshire Republicans now hold a favorable opinion of the Garden State governor, compared to just 39 percent two months ago.
Rubio has also expanded his popularity in New Hampshire and is now the second most-liked candidate in the Granite State, earning a net-positive favorability rating of 56-24 percent. Twenty-seven percent of respondents also identified Rubio as the winner of the third Republican debate, the greatest percentage of any candidate.
WBUR, a Boston-based radio station, surveyed 400 likely voters in New Hampshire’s Republican primary between Oct. 29-Nov. 1. Results contain a margin of error plus or minus 4.9 percent.
