(NH Journal) President Donald Trump is slowly gaining momentum in the race for the White House, a new New Hampshire Journal/Praecones Analytica poll released Sunday night finds he’s leading Vice President Kamala Harris in the Granite State.
Trump’s slim 50.2 to 49.8 percent lead is insignificant, well within the margin of error.
But the fact that Trump, who’s lost the Granite State twice, is leading in a state Democrats carried in seven of the last eight presidential races, could be very significant. It’s one of a series of indicators that the Trump campaign is expanding the field of potential pick-up states less than two weeks before Election Day.
The survey of 622 registered voters was conducted by the Praecones Analytica polling firm between Oct. 24-26.
“There’s a reason Kamala Harris has been spending money in New Hampshire. She’s on defense and knows President Trump is on the path to victory,” said Trump national campaign spokesperson – and Atkinson, N.H., native – Karoline Leavitt.
“To my fellow Granite Staters who want to keep our beautiful state safe, business-friendly, and free — get out and vote for President Trump. Kamala Harris is a radical liberal who would destroy New Hampshire and America forever.”
In the race for governor, Ayotte continues to hold a modest but steady lead. In the NHJournal poll, she’s leading Democrat Joyce Craig 52 to 48 percent.
In the Emerson College poll released last week, Trump trailed Harris in New Hampshire by three (50 to 47 percent) and Ayotte led Craig by the same margin (46 to 43 percent). Like the Journal poll, those numbers put both races within the margin of error.
Trump’s neck-and-neck polling with Harris in New Hampshire adds fuel to the narrative that his campaign is gaining momentum going into the last week of the campaign, momentum his team believes is expanding the map. The former president is scheduled to appear in both New Mexico and Virginia in the final days of the campaign.
“The interesting thing that is going unreported right now is the shift in the dynamic,” former Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said on Mark Halperin’s 2Way news program last week. “We have seen a shift, and now Minnesota, New Hampshire, Virginia, New Mexico, and potentially Nebraska [Second Congressional District] are all back in play in a way we wouldn’t have been talking about four weeks ago.”
“Look at the data,” Spicer added. “Look at what is happening in each of these states. They are all trending in Trump’s direction.”
On the generic ballot questions, Granite Staters were split. While they preferred Republicans control Congress 52 to 48 percent), a slim majority (50.6 to 49.4 percent) would prefer to see Democrats control the state legislature in Concord.
Respondents were also asked about some of the fundamental issues in the governor’s race. For example, Ayotte often says she intends to continue “the Sununu way” if elected governor, and she’s been endorsed by popular GOP Gov. Chris Sununu. However, when asked if they would prefer to “stay on the Sununu course” or wanted “New Hampshire to make a change,” 55 percent chose change, as opposed to 45 percent who said “stay the course.”
