Poll: Brown Trails by 10 Points in New Hampshire
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/06/19/poll-scott-brown-trails-by-10-points-in-new-hampshire/Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) holds a commanding lead over Republican Scott Brown in a new Suffolk University poll out Thursday.
Ms. Shaheen leads Mr. Brown, the former Massachusetts senator, 49% to 39% in a poll of New Hampshire residents.
There’s still more bad news for Mr. Brown in the poll: His favorability rating trails well behind even President Barack Obama in the state. Suffolk’s poll found Mr. Brown is viewed favorably by just 35% in New Hampshire; 46% give him an unfavorable rating.
Suffolk’s last poll, in March, found Ms. Shaheen leading Mr. Brown 52% to 39%. Other polling has found the race to be much closer: A Dartmouth survey in April showed Mr. Brown only three percentage points behind Ms. Shaheen.
For Mr. Obama, those numbers in the latest Suffolk poll are 45% favorable and 49% unfavorable – even though his job approval rating in the state is just 39% — below the 41% he received nationally in the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Wednesday. Ms. Shaheen rates 52% favorable and 37% unfavorable, Suffolk found.
The numbers are the latest evidence that the New Hampshire Senate race, despite Mr. Brown’s high-profile entrance, may not be among the top-tier contests this fall.
Ms. Shaheen, while still well ahead of Mr. Brown, is down slightly from Suffolk’s March poll, which was conducted before Mr. Brown declared his candidacy. She’s lost six percentage points from her favorability rating and three percentage points of her lead.
Still, the incumbent holds a commanding advantage.
Suffolk’s poll also found New Hampshire voters are nostalgic about 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney – or at least that they would like to see him run again. Nearly a quarter of New Hampshire voters said they’d vote for Mr. Romney when read a list of 13 possible GOP candidates. No other candidate received double-digit support in Suffolk’s poll.
With Mr. Romney not in the mix, the poll found a jumbled field, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) both receiving 11% support. Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) took only 5% support, but is the second choice of 13% of New Hampshire voters, Suffolk’s poll found.
Suffolk conducted its poll of 800 New Hampshire residents from June 14 – June 18, with a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.
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