The polling out of New Hampshire continues to get worse for the GOP establishment—also known as the “people interested in winning the general election.” The poll numbers themselves aren’t getting worse by the day. Instead, the polling is staying just the same, which is to say awful for the establishment, while the clock continues to tick. With each passing day that this status quo remains, the likelihood of Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz becoming the Republican presidential nominee increases.
New Hampshire is now a code-red situation for the party leaders who intend to propel a winning candidate into the general election. As they surely know. And as they also surely know, it’s not clear what they can do about it. Can they do anything about it?
Each New Hampshire Republican poll looks the same nowadays. Trump has roughly 25 to 30 percent of likely primary voters locked down. Trailing him by about 15 percentage points are Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio, and Gov. Chris Christie, while Gov. John Kasich and Jeb Bush are holding their share of the high single digits. There are enough votes out there for one of the four “establishment” candidates—Rubio, Christie, Bush, and Kasich—to take down Trump. This weekend’s CBS/YouGov poll puts their combined tally at 38 percent; the Boston Herald’s survey pins it at 41. Even though it’s clear Republican candidates are working with a much more conservative, outsider-friendly primary electorate this year, the votes are still there in New Hampshire for a candidate more in line with a traditional Republican nominee to take the first primary. But not if it’s split four ways.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member