New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is now competing with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for second place in New Hampshire, according to a new poll of Republicans in the Granite State.
The two GOP presidential hopefuls are in a dead heat for the No. 2 spot, earning 11 percent support each in WBUR’s latest survey of New Hampshire Republicans. They remain behind Donald Trump, who’s expanded his lead by 5 percentage points since November and now stands at 27 percent support.
According to one local TV station’s candidate tracker, Christie has spent more than four times as many days campaigning in New Hampshire than his closest competitor, Rubio, and has been there three times as often as Trump.
While Rubio’s been a top-tier contender in the state since late October, Christie’s numbers just recently began hinting at a comeback.
The establishment-friendly candidate has capitalized on the 2016 campaign’s renewed focus on national security and his decision to bet on winning New Hampshire’s Feb. 9 primary appears to be paying off; Christie’s favorability rating has climbed 6 percentage points, to 53 percent, since November.
In third place, and well within the poll’s 4.8 percent margin of error against Rubio or Christie, is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The hard-line conservative senator, who recently jumped to first place in Iowa, earns 10 percent support. Rounding out the top five, is Jeb Bush (7 percent) and John Kasich and Ben Carson, who are at 6 percent each.
Respondents were also asked whether they prefer a president with political experience over someone who has not previously belonged to the political class. Forty-six percent favor a commander-in-chief from “outside the political establishment,” while 37 prefer someone with “experience in elected office.”
The survey of 402 likely voters in New Hampshire’s Republican primary was conducted from Dec. 6-8. One night of polling occurred before Trump announced his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. and two nights occurred afterwards.
