Trump tops DeSantis by 41 points in New Hampshire survey

Former President Trump easily outpaces Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in a hypothetical GOP New Hampshire primary matchup, according to a new survey. 

An Emerson College poll released Tuesday showed Trump leading among a group of possible Republican candidates with a whopping 58 percent of the vote in the early primary state. DeSantis came in second with 17 percent, followed by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu with 7 percent and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley at 6 percent. 

Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a release that Trump’s base comes from younger voters, with two-thirds of GOP primary voters under 35 supporting him. He said DeSantis has a base on the national level with voters 65 and older and those with higher levels of education, but those numbers are not showing up in the New Hampshire poll. 

Kimball said Sununu, who has served as the state’s governor since 2017 and has a 64 percent approval rating among Republican primary voters, was unable to pass 10 percent support among any demographic when part of the primary field. 

Pollsters found that Trump also has a large lead among just the candidates who have officially launched their candidacies, which includes Haley and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. With the field limited to them, Trump received support from 73 percent of respondents, while Haley had 20 percent and Ramaswamy had 7 percent. 

The poll follows others that have indicated Trump is in a strong position. 

An Emerson survey from late last month showed the former president with 55 percent support nationally, 30 points ahead of DeSantis; a Roanoke College poll from last week had Trump leading DeSantis by 11 points in Virginia. 

In the most recent Emerson survey, pollsters found that President Biden leads Trump in a hypothetical New Hampshire matchup by 4 points — 42 percent to 38 percent. Biden leads DeSantis by 5 points, but he trails Sununu by 8 points in his home state. 

Sununu has said he is considering making a run for the Republican nomination in 2024 and that he does not expect Trump to be the nominee. 

The poll was conducted from March 3 to 5 among 1,025 registered voters. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.