DURHAM, N.H. (WHDH) - As voters in New Hampshire will soon be heading to the polls to decide which candidates will be on the ballot in November, an exclusive poll conducted by 7NEWS in partnership with the University of New Hampshire shows how the race is shaping up in its last couple of weeks.
There are some familiar names dominating the primary polls for United States Senate in New Hampshire, but on the Democratic side, a first-time candidate who’s riding the national wave of fresh faces is shaking up the race.
An exclusive poll conducted by 7NEWS with the University of New Hampshire in April showed that Congressman Chris Pappas was leading medical scientist Karishma Manzur 61 percent to 18 percent. In the last four months, Manzur significantly cut that gap. Pappas now leads just 47 percent to Manzur’s 34 percent. Eighteen percent of voters said they are still undecided.
“She [Manzur] is definitely the candidate who is progressive candidate, candidate who frankly didn’t have the money in the organization early on, but has put together a grassroots campaign. And that old fashioned knocking on doors because you don’t have enough money to run ads is working for her,” said Andy Smith, Director of the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center. “I’d say that race is up in the air.”
Smith said New Hampshire is joining the national trend that has seen fresh political faces challenging well-known Democrats, fueled by strong support from progressive and young voters.
“Key is, are they going to vote? That’s really the key. Voting becomes a habit. And if you haven’t voted before, you’re less likely to less likely to vote in this election,” Smith said.
When 7NEWS asked Democratic primary voters why they chose their candidate, 32 percent of Pappas’ supporters said they care about his experience most, with 12 percent of those voters citing his chance of winning the general election.
Fourty-nine percent of Manzur’s supporters said her chances of winning the general election factored in their thinking.
“This is the same sort of problem the Democrats been having across the country. What do you do? You go to win the general election? You vote for your heart, or do you vote for your head? The head says vote for the more electable candidate. The heart says vote for the candidate who’s, you know, really expressing my political anger,” Smith said.
On the Republican side, former Senator John Sununu remains the clear frontrunner over former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown.
Sununu has 60 percent in the 7NEWS poll, with Brown earning 20 percent. Seventeen percent of voters said they were undecided.
Those results showed little change from April, when 56 percent of Republicans polled chose Sununu, and 19 percent chose Brown. Smith also points to the Sununu family’s deep political roots in New Hampshire, which is not the case for Brown.
“Being seen as somebody from Massachusetts isn’t helping him at all,” Smith said. “There’s kind of a halo among around the Sununu family in New Hampshire that’s helping him out.”
There are several other candidates running in the Democratic primary, but none of them polled as much as one percent in the 7NEWS poll.
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