Donald Trump is in cruise control in New Hampshire, doubling the poll numbers of his nearest challenger, unless that is, Mitt Romney gets in the race. Under that scenario, it would be Trump who would be getting doubled up on, according to a new poll out from the Boston Globe and Suffolk University.
Trump leads Marco Rubio 22 percent to 11 percent. Dr. Ben Carson is third, at 10 percent. If Romney entered the race, however, he would garner 31 percent to Trump’s 15 percent.
A third Romney run has long been speculated. Romney declined to enter the race last January. Many observers thought he had assessed that the establishment lane and his 2012 donor base had been crowded out by Jeb Bush.
With Bush’s campaign now in a tailspin, there is renewed speculation the former Massachusetts governor could mount a third run. Romney won the New Hampshire primary in 2012, finished second in 2008, and owns a house in the state. New Hampshire has long been seen as coronating the choice of the Republican party’s moderate, establishment wing — who, more often than not, becomes the party’s nominee.
The success of populist firebrand Trump in the state so far has fiercely challenged that narrative, however.
Voters in New Hampshire rated terrorism as their top issue, with 44 percent of respondents saying so, in one of the first polls taken of the state since the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130.
In a Romney-less world, Trump is their top choice to handle that issue. Thirty-five percent of respondents selected Trump as their top choice to handle the Islamic State — more than selected him to be their nominee. Marco Rubio was second, at 13 percent.
Eighteen percent rated jobs and the economy as their top concern, followed by 12 percent choosing immigration, numbers that could also play to Trump’s advantage, with Trump’s reputation within the primary electorate as a successful businessman and job-creator, paired with his tough talk on immigration.
