Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has slashed former President Trump’s lead in New Hampshire with nearly two weeks to go until the first-in-the-nation primary, according to a survey released Tuesday.
In the new CNN/University of New Hampshire (UNH) poll, Haley garnered about 32 percent of likely GOP primary voters in the Granite State, an increase of 12 percentage points since November.
Trump — who remains the front-runner in the GOP primary race, nationally and in New Hampshire — led Haley by 7 points, with 39 percent support from likely Republican primary voters. This is a slight dip from November for the former president, who had 42 percent backing then.
The other GOP candidates fell far behind in New Hampshire, pollsters found.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came next with 12 percent support, followed by biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 8 percent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 5 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson at less than 1 percent.
The increase in support for Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, follows a series of polls showing her gaining momentum in recent months.
Haley’s popularity has also notably risen among undeclared registered voters — New Hampshire’s category for independent voters — by about 18 points since November, the CNN poll found. She’s also spiked 20 points among those with moderate ideologies.
Meanwhile, a USA TODAY/Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll recently found that, while Haley has made gains, she lags behind Trump by a much larger margin: 46 percent to 26 percent.
The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s polling index of New Hampshire shows Trump with a 11.9-percent lead over Haley in the Granite State — 41.6 percent to 29.7 percent. Christie has about 10.9 percent support, while DeSantis shows 7.4 percent and Ramaswamy has 4.9 percent.
New Hampshire’s primary will take place Jan. 23, nearly a week after Iowa holds its caucuses to kick off primary voting season.
The CNN/New Hampshire poll was conducted online by the UNH Survey Center from Jan. 4-8 among 1,864 New Hampshire adults. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.