Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan enjoys an 11-point lead over Republican nominee Don Bolduc with less than two months to go before a closely watched Senate race in New Hampshire, a prominent pollster said Friday.
The Emerson College/WHDH poll sized up the general election days after Mr. Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general, bucked national Republicans and edged out state Senate President Chuck Morse in the GOP primary.
Ms. Hassan’s seat is viewed as vulnerable and a potential GOP pickup as Republicans try to retake the evenly divided Senate, and yet she leads Mr. Bolduc 51% to 40% in the new poll.
That leaves roughly 9% undecided or planning to support someone else.
Ms. Hassan was buoyed by independent voters and women.
“Independent voters break for Hassan by a 12-point margin,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling said. “Both men and women support Hassan over Bolduc; however, women support the senator by a 16-point margin and men by 6.”
Mr. Bolduc spooked establishment Republicans by calling New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu a “Chinese Communist sympathizer” and casting doubt on the legitimacy of President Biden’s win in 2020.
He’s backed off come of those positions, telling Fox News this week that he’s “done a lot of research” and that Mr. Biden was the rightful winner in 2020, even if he thinks there was some fraud.
“I’ve come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this: The election was not stolen,” he said. “Elections have consequences and, unfortunately, President Biden is the legitimate president of this country.”
The Hassan campaign hit back with a clip from a recent primary debate in which Mr. Bolduc said he stood by his assertion that Mr. Trump won in 2020.
“Don Bolduc is an election denier,” Ms. Hassan tweeted.
The Emerson poll found one in five voters never heard of Mr. Bolduc or aren’t sure what to make of him, which could be a problem. However, it also gives him room to win over people who have a fixed and unfavorable view of Ms. Hassan.
“Bolduc has low name recognition, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity,” Mr. Kimball said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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