GILFORD, New Hampshire — A new poll suggests Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is picking up support in the nation’s first primary state, New Hampshire, but the survey also points to perils for her campaign in the crucial contest.
The senator from California has 18% of the vote, second only to former Vice President Joe Biden, who has 21% support, according to a new St. Anselm College survey late Monday. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders round out the top five Democrats vying for the right to challenge President Trump in 2020, with 17%, 12%, and 10% respectively.
That’s a significant increase in support from the same poll taken in April, when she had under 7%, compared to Biden’s 22%.
The poll of 351 randomly-selected registered New Hampshire voters expressing an intention to vote in the 2020 Democratic primary was conducted between July 10 and July 12, 2019. The survey has a margin of error of 5.2%
The polling reflects a growing interest in the former California state attorney general, piqued during the opening debate series in which she took on front-runner Biden for his opposition to federally-mandated busing, an anti-education segregation initiative rolled out during the 1960s and 1970s that affected her personally as a biracial child growing up in the Golden State’s north.
Yet while the survey shows growth in the polls by Harris over recent surveys, data deeper in the survey suggests many New Hampshire voters are undecided and that she hasn’t closed the sale in the Granite State. And New Hampshire voters interviewed recently suggest much the same thing.
At a barn party for Buttigieg in Rye and a house party for former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke in Meredith over the weekend, several attendees told the Washington Examiner they were excited to catch Harris during her one-day blitz of the Granite State, making stops in Gilford and Somersworth; her first trip north since May. Yet, despite their excitement, they still remained undecided about whether they would cast a ballot for her on Feb. 11.
“She is a really bright, strong woman, who’s not going to put up with crap. I mean she kind of puts people in their place,” said Mary Toumpas, 68, of Hampton, at the Buttigieg event on the seacoast. “I think she did great in the last debate and I think that visibility helped her a lot … She has spunk.”
In the state’s lakes region, Peter Minkow agreed: “She’s proven that she’s got the courage to take on anybody. If she can take on Joe, she can take on anybody.”
The 73-year-old from Laconia added “a lot of people feel” Biden’s “time has come and gone, and that he’s distracting from a younger generation of political leaders that the country really needs.”
But whether that momentum translates into votes remains to be seen as Democrats in the early-nominating state continue to weigh their options, particularly given Harris would be the first woman of color president and New Hampshire is a predominantly white state that overwhelmingly supported Sanders in 2016.
For Lynda Baita, 55, like many Democrats around the country, the most influential factor in her vote is electability. “I do consider what would be the best combination between a president and a vice president to beat Trump, which I wish I didn’t because I would want, I personally want to think about who I want to vote for, but I then have to consider what’s the combination that’s going to beat Trump,” said Baita, of Rochester. “If I saw that she wasn’t one that could beat him, then I might not vote that way.”
Nationwide, Harris attracts about 13.4% of the vote, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages. That figure places her in fourth position behind Biden with 27.8% support, as well as Sanders and Warren with 15% apiece.
