Marco Rubio jumps up to third in latest New Hampshire presidential poll
Donald Trump and Ben Carson still pace the field.
Donald Trump and Ben Carson remain atop the presidential horse race in New Hampshire, but Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s debate performance has pushed him into a solid third place, according to polling of likely Republican primary voters from Monmouth University [PDF].
Rubio surged from a lowly 4 percent support in September up to 13 percent of the vote in the latest poll. That tripling put him just behind Carson at 16 percent and Trump with just over a quarter of the vote in New Hampshire.
In addition, Rubio was the second choice for 14 percent of respondents, the second-most of all candidates and a big rise from his middling six percent in September. His favorability also surged to 62 percent favorable to 19 percent unfavorable, a plus-43 rating. Only Ben Carson and his plus-45 favorability rating were better.
Jeb Bush, who has been running incessant ads in New Hampshire recently, came in sixth place with just 7 percent support.
“Marco Rubio’s standout performance in the last debate seems to have paid dividends in a contest that was supposed to be dominated by his former mentor Jeb Bush,’’ said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement.
Gallery: The 2016 presidential candidates.
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