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New Hampshire: Swinging Back?

April 13, 2010    Content provided by DDC Advocacy

New Hampshire is one of the places that led the Democratic charge during the latter half of this decade, beginning in 2004 when the Granite State was the only province that voted for John Kerry after supporting President George W. Bush four years earlier. The subsequent Democratic sweeps at the congressional and state level were anchored by Gov. John Lynch, who unseated a Republican incumbent in 2004 and went on to win record victories every two years since. A new Rasmussen Reports poll, however, (4/7; 500 likely NH voters) gives Lynch a strong lead for November, but he's apparently not as dominant as before. In fact, according to the polling results, Lynch has even dropped below 50%; now holding a 47-37% lead over former NH Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen. He does better against two other potential Republican candidates. The Rasmussen data is also giving strong numbers to GOP former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte in her bid to retain retiring Sen. Judd Gregg's open US Senate seat. The poll detects a 50-35% Republican advantage over 2nd district Rep. Paul Hodes, the consensus Democratic candidate. Should these trends continue, we could see the New Hampshire political pendulum begin to swing back.