A new public opinion poll suggests that half of New Hampshire voters disapprove of the job U.S. Sen. Maggie is doing representing the Granite State.
But a Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll released this week also indicates that most New Hampshire voters know next to nothing about the three Republicans running to challenge Hassan in November’s midterm elections.
Hassan, a former two-term governor who’s running this year for reelection, stands at 45% approval and 51% disapproval in the poll, which was conducted Jan. 11-12. The senator’s standing with Granite Staters was basically unchanged from the previous Saint Anselm College survey in October.
Hassan and congressional Democrats are up against historical headwinds as they try to hold onto their razor-thin U.S. House and Senate majorities in November’s elections, as the party that wins the White House traditionally suffers setbacks in the ensuing midterms. Also doing Hassan and other Democrats on the ballot this November no favors is the current difficult political climate they’re facing, which is compounded by President Joe Biden’s flagging poll numbers.
The president’s approval in the new Saint Anselm survey stands well into negative territory, at 41% approval and 58% disapproval. That’s a decline from the October poll, when Biden stood at 44%-56% among Granite Staters.
U.S. Senate Republicans need a net gain of just one seat in November’s midterm elections to win back the majority in the chamber that they lost a year ago, when they were swept in the Jan. 5, 2021, twin runoff contests in Georgia.
While the GOP is defending 20 of the 34 seats up for grabs this year, including five seats where Republican incumbents are retiring, they view four Democratic senators in extremely competitive general election battleground states as very vulnerable. And due to her lackluster polling position throughout most of 2021, Hassan is one of the four.
National Republicans were dealt a setback when Republican Gov. Chris Sununu – their top recruit prospect in the 2022 election cycle – announced in November that he would run for reelection rather than challenge Hassan, his predecessor in the corner office. The governor’s decision instantly took what would have been one of the most expensive, competitive, and consequential Senate races this year off the A-list. But the Senate GOP reelection committee still feels Hassan is beatable with the right Republican challenger.
The Saint Anselm poll indicates that the three main Senate candidates running in the GOP primary have their work cut out to even introduce themselves to Granite State voters.
Just over half of those surveyed said they’d never heard of or had no opinion of retired Gen. Don Bolduc, who until this month was the only declared candidate in the Senate GOP primary race. Bolduc, the runner-up for the 2020 GOP Senate nomination, launched his second Senate bid weeks after the 2020 election.
A full 70% said they’d never heard of or had no opinion of state Senate President Chuck Morse, who last week filed paperwork to set up a U.S. Senate campaign. And that percentage jumped to 83% for Londonderry town manager and 2012 GOP gubernatorial candidate Kevin Smith, who said he’d be formally declaring his candidacy “in the near future.”
“The eventual Republican nominee has a lot of work to do to build up recognition as a credible alternative to the experienced Hassan,” said Neil Levesque, the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.
According to the poll, Hassan tops Bolduc 43%-36%, Morse 41%-27%, and Smith 42%-24% in hypothetical general election matchups.
“Senator Hassan’s low-40’s ballot strength points to a tight race as challenger name recognition increases,” Levesque said. “She will need to convince voters that are currently skeptical of her party to give her a second Senate term.”
The poll indicates that two other members of the state’s federal delegation who are running for reelection this year, Democratic Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas, are also underwater when it comes to their approval ratings. Kuster, the five-term lawmaker from Hopkinton who represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District, stands at 41%-49%. And Pappas, the former executive councilor from Manchester who’s running for a third term representing the state’s 1st Congressional District, stands at 43%-47%
Sununu’s job approval stands at 53%-44%, which is down from 56%-42% in the October poll. While still in positive territory, the governor numbers came down from the stratosphere over the past year.
Kuster’s known as a prolific fundraiser, and to add to that reputation her campaign boasted about a record-breaking haul over the past three months.
The congresswoman raked in $502,500 during the October-December fourth quarter of fundraising, which was a record in the 2nd District in an off-election year. Kuster’s team reported ending 2021 with over $2.1 million cash on hand, which is a formidable war chest.
“My campaigns are always done the New Hampshire way: grassroots and people powered,” Kuster said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the continued trust of my supporters from across the Granite State.”
Five Republicans are running in the GOP primary in September to challenge Kuster. They include first time candidate and North Country brewer Jeff Cozzens and former Hillsborough County treasure and 2018 congressional candidate Bob Burns. Cozzens reported hauling in $110,000 the past three months.