Trump maintains lead in New Hampshire, Rubio gains traction
Donald Trump still maintains a sizable lead in New Hampshire, but Marco Rubio is gaining traction in the key early voting state, according to a Monmouth University survey released Monday.
The poll found 26 percent of likely GOP primary voters support Trump, 16 percent back Ben Carson and now 13 percent support Rubio.
Only four percent of likely GOP primary voters said they supported Rubio in Monmouth University's last New Hampshire poll in September.
In the latest poll, 11 percent said they support John Kasich, nine percent support Ted Cruz, and seven percent support former Jeb Bush. Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie each received five percent support and only one percent of voters said they back Rand Paul.
Support for Trump and Fiorina, the poll found, has decreased by 2 percentage points each since September.
Carson received the highest favorability rating of 64 percent. And 62 percent gave Rubio a favorable rating, which was up quite a bit from September. Bush's and Christie's favorability ratings have slightly improved, too, while most of the other candidates have seen their ratings slip.
Twenty percent of likely primary voters said they are completely decided on their preferred candidate, nearly 40 percent said they have a strong preference but could consider other candidates and 19 percent said they are really undecided.
The survey also found that 54 percent of GOP primary voters are aware of the budget deal Congress passed last week that lifts the debt ceiling into March 2017 and lifts spending caps through September 2017. Of that group, 29 percent said they support the agreement and more than half said they disapprove.
Rubio's improving numbers comes after he delivered a strong performance at last week's third GOP presidential debate.
The poll surveyed 410 New Hampshire voters between October 29 and November 1 with a margin of error of +/-4.8 percent.