Haley narrows gap in New Hampshire poll, trails Trump by 20 points

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley trimmed the gap between her and former President Trump in New Hampshire in a recent survey, though pollsters noted she still has a ways to go.

In the USA TODAY/Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll, released Tuesday, Haley trailed Trump by 20 points in the Granite State, garnering about 26 percent of the likely GOP primary vote, while Trump had the backing of 46 percent.

The former president’s lead remains significant among the primary candidates, but it is a dip from USA Today’s polling in October, when he held a 30-point lead over Haley. Since October, the former president’s support dropped by 3 percentage points, while Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, gained 7 points, pollsters noted.

Along with Haley’s surge in the first-in-the-nation primary state, support has dropped for rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who garnered 8 percent and 2 percent of the vote, respectively.

This is a drop of 2 percentage points for DeSantis since October and follows a series of other surveys showing dwindling support for the Florida governor as Haley surpasses his second-place spot in several polls.

Meanwhile, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s primary backing in New Hampshire did increase by 6 points from October, with the latest poll showing him at 12 percent.

The poll comes nearly two weeks before New Hampshire holds its primary on Jan. 23, just more than a week after Iowa holds its caucuses.

In a CNN/University of New Hampshire (UNH) poll, also released Tuesday, Haley narrowed the gap with the former president to 7 points and increased her support by 12 percentage points since the poll was taken in November.

The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s polling index of New Hampshire shows Trump with an 11.9 percent lead over Haley in the Granite State — 41.6 percent to 29.7 percent. Christie has 10.9 percent support, while DeSantis is at 7.4 percent and Ramaswamy has 4.9 percent. 

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) endorsed Haley last month, arguing she will get the Republican Party “back on track.”

The USA TODAY/Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll was conducted from Jan. 3-7 among 1,000 New Hampshire voters. Its margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.