Christie passes struggling DeSantis in New Hampshire poll as Trump keeps dominant lead

Chris Christie is catching up with Ron DeSantis, at least in New Hampshire.

The former New Jersey governor has jumped past DeSantis into second place in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race in a new poll, although both remain way behind former President DonaldTrump.

Christie, who is struggling in national polls, scored 9% support in the Emerson College poll of the Granite State, edging ahead of the fast-fading DeSantis at 8%.

Trump remains far and away the front runner with the backing of 49% of voters in the poll in the first-in-the-nation GOP primary state.

But Christie is running as a much more strident critic of Trump, and could now be poised to use his second-place spot to expand his attacks on the former president.

“DeSantis has been the alternative to Trump. This is the first time we have seen DeSantis drop out of second place in our polling, and fall back into the pack of candidates,” said Emerson College Polling executive director Spencer Kimball.

The poll amounts to a hammer blow to DeSantis, whose campaign has been in a downward spiral for months. He recently rebooted his campaign and vowed to cut costs, but voters have been turned off by his reserved personality.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who has been rising in some national polls recently, is in fourth place with 6% in New Hampshire.

Long-shot candidate North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Nikki Haley each clocked in at 4% followed by biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 3%.

Christie is the only major GOP candidate who has regularly unleashed withering attacks on Trump, especially since the former president has been indicted by federal and state prosecutors.

A feared debater, Christie has taunted Trump over his refusal to commit to taking part in the first GOP clash next week in Milwaukee.

New Hampshire is set to be the second state to weigh in on the Republican nomination race, after the Iowa caucus.

Christie, a moderate, is not competing in Iowa, where conservative evangelical Christians dominate the Republican caucus field.

Democrats have shaken up their presidential selection primary and neither state will play a key role going forward as they have in the past.

Independent voters and Democrats can cross the aisle to vote in the GOP primary in New Hampshire, raising the potential danger for Trump in the state.

The poll also put President Biden with a 49% to 41% lead over Trump in a potential general election matchup.

New Hampshire has been considered a presidential battleground state but it has trended towards Democrats in recent cycles and most analysts believe Biden should be confident of carrying the state in his reelection fight.