Poll: Trump with big lead on NH primary eve

Donald Trump holds a commanding lead a day ahead of the New Hampshire primary, a new poll finds.

A new Emerson College poll found that Trump leads the GOP field with 31 percent. Trump, who came in second place at last week’s Iowa caucuses, has maintained his lead ahead of the Granite State primary.

{mosads}Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush comes in second place at 16 percent, but the next three GOP rivals trail closely behind him. Ohio Gov. John Kasich follows with 13 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at 12 percent, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 11 percent.

The survey, which was conducted from Thursday to Sunday and included the weekend’s GOP debate, showed a shift in the race as Bush saw a bump on Sunday and Rubio dipped in the wake of the debate. Rubio, who’s emerged as an establishment favorite after a strong showing in Iowa, faced criticism, particularly from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, at Saturday’s debate.

Other polls released earlier on Monday found Trump leading, but with Rubio or Cruz in second place.

A University of Massachusetts-Lowell/7 News survey found Trump with 21 percent and Rubio and Cruz tied with 13 percent. A CNN/WMUR tracking poll showed the real estate mogul with 31 percent and Rubio in second place with 17 percent.

On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leads Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton by double digits, 54 to 42 percent. The poll found that the Vermont senator defeated Clinton in four out of five age groups.

Sanders’s biggest lead was 41 points among young voters between the ages of 18 to 34. Clinton beat Sanders, 53 to 43 percent, among senior citizens who are 75 years or older.

Clinton edged Sanders out by a razor-thin margin in last week’s Iowa caucuses. Sanders is viewed as the prohibitive favorite going into the Granite State primary.

The Emerson poll was conducted from Feb. 4 to 7. The poll surveyed 686 likely GOP primary voters in New Hampshire with a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points. The poll also surveyed 783 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.