Poll Shows Trump Solidifying Lead in NH, Haley a Solid Second

CONCORD, N.H. — Former President Donald Trump has a solid, two-digit lead in New Hampshire over his former ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, with less than a week to go until the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

As of Wednesday morning, Trump’s support stands at 50.4%, Haley at 33.8%, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a distant third with just 5.2%, according to the latest Suffolk University/NBC10 Boston/Boston Globe tracking poll.

Though a snowstorm delayed his arrival, Trump arrived in New Hampshire on Tuesday for the first of five planned rallies this week.

“We now have our eyes on the very special place, you know what that place is?” he told his audience in Atkinson, New Hampshire, Tuesday night.

“It’s New Hampshire, and I know that New Hampshire will never let us down — just like in 2016. We came in here and won in a landslide,” he said.

The survey of 500 likely Republican primary voters was conducted on Jan. 15 and 16, and has a margin of error of 4.4%. The pollsters plan to release an update every morning at 5:00 a.m. through the primary.

Questions included whether people planned to vote, whether their minds were made up yet and whether their choice was motivated by their support for a particular candidate or their opposition to someone else on the ballot.

One of the interesting results is that when asked about their second choice for a candidate, 29.93% said DeSantis, while only 10.2% said they would choose Haley and 6.72% said Trump.

The result is intriguing because DeSantis has been languishing in the single digits for so long in the state that he actually opted to bypass it after the Iowa Caucuses and fly directly to South Carolina where he has since made a pair of campaign appearances.

In terms of the solidity of their support, a whopping 90.48% of survey participants say they are all in with the former president, while 4.76% say their vote for Trump is actually a vote against Haley.

While she doesn’t have anywhere near the numbers Trump has, Haley’s support is also strong, with 53.85% saying they strongly support her, while 37.28% say their vote for her is actually a protest vote against Trump.

As for DeSantis, his campaign pointed out that despite his quick trip to South Carolina, he actually flew into New Hampshire Tuesday for a CNN Town Hall.

“This campaign is built for the long haul. We intend to compete for every single available delegate in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and then into March,” DeSantis campaign spokesperson Andrew Romeo said in a statement. 

“We will kick our campaign into overdrive in both South Carolina and New Hampshire,” Romeo added.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue