Trump edges out Biden in New Hampshire in post-debate poll

Former President Trump has a 2-point lead over President Biden in New Hampshire, according to a poll published Monday, showing significant gains for Trump after Biden’s poor debate performance last week.

The Saint Anselm College poll found that 44 percent of New Hampshire voters would back Trump if the election was held today, to 42 percent supporting Biden. That’s a 12-point swing from an identical December poll, which found Biden with a 10-point lead in the state.

The poll found Biden underperforming in the Granite State, despite Democrats holding a narrow lead over Republicans in party registration and the generic ballot. When only given the political parties, voters sided with Democrats 46 percent to 43 percent, according to the poll.

“After a remarkable six months that saw him swiftly dispatch his primary rivals and become the first former President to be convicted of a felony, Donald Trump has erased a ten-point polling deficit and now leads President Joe Biden by a narrow 2-point margin,” New Hampshire Institute of Politics Director Neil Levesque said in a statement. 

Trump also leads Biden among the key demographic of moderate voters, with 44 percent support to Biden’s 38 percent.

Both candidates remain overall unpopular among voters, with just 39 percent of respondents having a favorable opinion of Biden and 42 percent of Trump. Among respondents who said they dislike both candidates, 30 percent backed Biden to 13 percent supporting Trump.

Despite 81 percent of poll respondents saying they watched last week’s first presidential debate, only 19 percent of voters said it will impact their vote. A 54-percent majority of respondents said Trump won the debate, while just six percent said Biden won.

New Hampshire is considered to “lean Democratic,” according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ election forecast. Biden holds a 3.7 percent lead over Trump in the statewide polling average, which does not include the new Saint Anselm poll.

The Saint Anselm College poll surveyed about 1,700 registered voters between June 28-29, with a margin of error of about 2.3 percent.