Christie surges in New Hampshire

Chris Christie is leading the field of GOP presidential contenders in the early primary state of New Hampshire, according to a new poll.

The New Jersey governor drew 21 percent support among likely Republican primary voters, nearly double the 11 percent support he received in the last WMUR Granite State poll.

Christie’s surge contrasted with a steep drop in support for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has faced a backlash among conservative voters for his work on immigration reform.

{mosads}Rubio mustered only 6 percent support among GOP voters in New Hampshire, a big drop from the 15 percent support he enjoyed in April.

The weak showing placed Rubio fifth in the Granite State poll, behind Christie, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Rubio’s personal standing has taken a hit as well. His net favorability among Republicans in New Hampshire has tumbled from 51 percent in April to just 33 percent today.

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Christie, on the other hand, saw his favorability numbers tick up slightly, from30 percent in April to35 percent.

One bright spot for Rubio was that only 2 percent of respondents said they would never vote for him in a primary under any circumstance, while 11 percent said they would never support Christie.

The poll sampled 200 likely 2016 Republican primary voters and had a margin of error of 6.9 percentage points.