Presidential races

Poll: Walker, Bush lead Clinton head-to-head in New Hampshire

Two potential 2016 GOP contenders, Gov. Scott Walker (Wis.) and former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.) lead Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical general election match-up in New Hampshire, according to a new poll.

Walker is up 4 percentage points, 39 percent to 35 percent, while Bush leads by 3 percentage points, 37 percent to 34 percent, in the poll released Wednesday by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College. 

{mosads}“If the Democratic primary field remains comparatively uncompetitive, Clinton will glide to a primary victory in New Hampshire as her core Democratic voter base is about as solid as one could hope for more than nine months from the New Hampshire primary,” Ronald Shaiko, the survey’s director, said in a release. 

“Her electoral success in November of 2016 in New Hampshire, however, is far from certain,” he cautioned. 

In head-to-head match-ups, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tied with Clinton, while Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) trailed by 2 percentage points, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) by 3 points, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) by more than 10 points. All of the results were within the 5-percentage-point margin of error, except for Cruz.

Shaiko highlighted Clinton’s slide among Granite State independent voters. While she beat Bush by 21 percentage points with independents last year, she trailed Bush by 9 percentage points in the latest poll.