No Love For Trump In New Hampshire, As Early Challenger Rises In Hypothetical Primary Poll

It’s almost like having your state called a “drug-infested den” causes some harsh feelings.

I guess this is only fair. Since Trump is in non-stop campaign mode, the hypothetical primary polling for 2020 has kicked in. While there are no announced contenders yet, it’s apparently a growing belief that if Trump manages to make it to 2020 without walking away, or being walked out by the authorities, he will be challenged.

And we have our first (hypothetical) challenger: Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Kasich is the candidate that won’t go away. Even trailing far behind, he wouldn’t leave the 2016 primary, and with Ted Cruz actively campaigning for his 2018 Senate reelection, Kasich is the most likely to give it another shot in 2020.

So what do the governor’s chances look like, this early out?

An American Research Group poll found that if the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary were held today, Kasich would get 52 percent support, compared to Trump who would receive just 40 percent.

Another 8 percent are undecided.

In a potential primary matchup between Kasich and Vice President Mike Pence, the Ohio governor still holds an advantage, according to the poll.

In that matchup, Kasich garners 41 percent support, compared to Pence, who has 27 percent.

Nice work, Trump. You make Kasich seem like a good choice.

This particular poll was conducted from August 4 to August 6, after the Washington Post released the transcripts of Trump’s January conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia.

While speaking with the president of Mexico, President Trump referred to New Hampshire as a “drug-infested den.”

I don’t know New Hampshire’s struggles with addiction among their population. I’m sure it’s bad, simply because drug addiction has infected the entire nation. I don’t know anybody who isn’t dealing with it, on some level, whether in their family or with friends. Either way, nobody wants to be labeled that way. The idea that a sitting U.S. president would demean an entire American state that way while talking to a foreign leader may have been a bit too much.

And yes, I realize they probably all have things to say about different regions of the country, when they don’t think it’ll be made public. This time, however, it was a new president, and again, talking to a foreign leader about his own people.

New Hampshire went to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election (although he won the primary), so it’s not as if there was a lot of love for Trump in the state, to begin with. This poll, however, was strictly confined to 600 likely Republican presidential primary voters, with a margin of error of 4 percent.

I can’t wait to see the list of likely Republican challengers to the incumbent, come 2020.

Even more so, I’m interested in seeing if after 4 years of the current level of White House turmoil, the GOP are as determined to stand behind this “outsider” as they were in 2016.

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