While Trump dropped 4 points since the beginning of the month, Rubio has risen 5 points.
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Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump appears to be heading for his first victory in the New Hampshire primary.
“Hillary Clinton doesn’t want to run against me”, he said at a rally in Nashua.
Residents of three small New Hampshire towns cast their ballots in the Granite State’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary just after midnight Tuesday, kicking off what could be a make-or-break day for several Republican campaigns.
Rubio faced blistering criticism from his primary opponents following Saturday’s ABC debate, where New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie accused the Florida senator of using the same “memorized 20-second speech” for all of his answers.
Rubio’s debate showing, in which he helped further the perception he is an overly scripted, even robotic, candidate, has been cited by other contenders as proof he is not ready to shoulder the leadership mantle. You know what she said? “We can’t afford to have a president who melts”. “But it had to be one of the most effective points in a debate we’ve ever seen”. “I think he tried to be too much of an entertainer”, Alderman said.
Republican businessman Donald Trump and septuagenarian Democrat Bernie Sanders hold double-digit leads over their rivals in New Hampshire. Rubio was in second place at 17 percent, followed by Ted Cruz, a USA senator from Texas, at 14 percent.
But he was significantly ahead of the fourth and fifth place candidates in the poll, Ohio Governor John Kasich at 10 percent and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 7 percent.
Polls show Clinton trailing Vermont Sen.
But his campaign did take issue with Mrs Clinton’s claim that Mr Sanders benefited from Wall Street money donated to Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, with campaign manager Jeff Weaver arguing it “suggests the kind of disarray that the Clinton campaign finds itself in today”.
If Rubio sinks, who benefits?
The large Republican field was winnowed after Iowa, but there remains a crowded grouping of more traditional candidates, including Rubio. If they don’t score big, if they don’t score reasonable results here in New Hampshire, they might drop out of the race anytime soon.
Watch the way women vote in the Democratic primary.
The Republican front-runner recalled how he was criticized for not reprimanding another supporter who called US President Barack Obama a Muslim. His strategy has always been to leverage his telegenic presence on cable news channels to build support.
His third-place Iowa finish seemed to validate that decision. He’s hoping it will be enough to propel him to a strong finish in New Hampshire.
There remains the possibility that Rubio will silence the doubters on Tuesday, demonstrating that his debate mishap meant little to voters.
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“On a principled level, I’m more in line with Ted Cruz, but who can actually win the nomination, I was leaning toward Rubio thinking that was more likely”, says Siegel. Three days later, he won them.
