New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has jumped from ninth place to fourth place among the GOP presidential field in New Hampshire, according to a new poll released Thursday.
Christie moved from 3 percent support in mid-October to 9 percent, according to the survey by the liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP).
Christie also holds the highest net favorability rating of any GOP candidate, 39 points, a significant improvement from August when he was at minus 11, the poll said.
{mosads}“Chris Christie’s rise in New Hampshire is good news not just for him but possibly for the other candidates struggling to gain traction right now,” Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said in a statement. “It shows that there’s still plenty of time for people to turn their campaigns around.”
Christie is also now a more popular second choice for voters supporting real estate mogul Donald Trump, doubling his support from 7 percent in PPP’s mid-October poll to 14 percent.
A number of polls have shown him on the rise since the influential New Hampshire Union Leader
endorsed Christie’s presidential bid on Nov. 28.
The poll also found that Trump continues to lead by double digits, with 27 percent, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), with 13 percent, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), with 11 percent. In October, Rubio was in second place, with 12 percent.
Cruz is also building momentum in the Granite State, moving from sixth place, with 8 percent, in October to second, with 13 percent, in the new poll. And he was top among Trump supporters as a second choice, with 26 percent, up from 6 percent in the last poll.
In Thursday’s poll, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson comes in fifth, with 9 percent, following Ohio Gov. John Kasich, with 8 percent, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, with 6 percent, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, with 5 percent, and Sen. Rand Paul, with 4 percent. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former New York Gov. George Pataki, former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore all register at 1 percent or less.
Both Bush and Kasich are losing steam in New Hampshire. Bush saw the biggest drop, falling from fifth in October to eighth in the new poll. He has a net favorability rating of minus 7.
Kasich, who’s made it a priority to focus on New Hampshire in his quest for the GOP nomination, is also dipping in the polls, falling from fourth in August and October to sixth in November.
On the Democratic side, the top two candidates are close. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slightly leads Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 44 percent to 42 percent. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley lags far behind, with 8 percent.
But Sanders has a higher favorability rating than Clinton, 66 compared with 46.
“Hillary Clinton’s expanded her lead nationally and in most recent Iowa polls,” Debnam said. “But New Hampshire continues to be shaping up for a very competitive primary.”
The poll was conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. It surveyed 458 Democratic primary voters and has a margin of error of 4.6 percentage points. The Republican poll surveyed 454 Republican primary voters via landlines and the Internet and its margin of error is also 4.6 percentage points.
