Granite State poll: Drugs enemy No. 1, candidate Gatsas relatively unknown

DURHAM, NH – Takeaways from the latest WMUR/Granite State Poll:

• Misuse of drugs continues to top the list as the most important problem facing New Hampshire, according to the latest WMUR Granite State Poll.
• Governor Maggie Hassan is leaving the corner office with a majority of Granite Staters approving of the job she is doing as Governor.
• The candidates seeking to replace her are not very well known among New Hampshire residents.

The poll was conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and included 621 randomly selected New Hampshire adults interviewed by landline and cellular telephone between April 7 and April 17, 2016.  The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3.9 percent.

Included were 553 likely 2016 general election voters (MSE = +/- 4.2%).

Drugs: Most Important Problem Facing New Hampshire

Over the past year, Granite Staters have become increasingly concerned about the drug crisis in the state — currently, 44 percent of New Hampshire adults cite drug abuse as the most important problem facing the state, followed by jobs and the economy (18 percent), education (5 percent), health care (4 percent), taxes (3 percent) and the state budget (2 percent). The percentage of Granite Staters cited drug abuse as the most important problem has shot up 35 percent in the past year.

Gubernatorial Approval

Democratic governor Maggie Hassan, who is running for U.S. Senate and will not run for a third term, continues to be popular in the state. In the most recent Granite State Poll, 52 percent of Granite Staters say they approve of the job Hassan is doing as governor, 33 percent disapprove, and 15 percent are neutral or don’t know enough to say. Overall, Democrats (72 percent approve, 16 percent disapprove) approve of Hassan’s job performance, while Independents are divided (41 percent approve, 39 percent disapprove) and Republicans disapprove (32 percent approve, 53 percent disapprove).

Favorability Ratings

The race to replace Hassan as governor of New Hampshire is wide open but the potential candidates are all relatively unknown to New Hampshire residents. The best known of these candidates is Republican Executive Councilor Chris Sununu of Newfields, son of former governor John H. Sununu and the brother of former senator John E. Sununu. Currently 28 percent of New Hampshire adults have a favorable opinion of Sununu, 19 percent have an unfavorable opinion, 12 percent are neutral and 40 percent don’t know enough about him to have an opinion (including 34 percent in the 3rd district which he represents). Sununu’s net favorability (the percentage having a favorable opinion minus the percentage having an unfavorable opinion) is +9%.

Ted Gatsas, who is serving his fourth term as mayor of Manchester and is a former president of the New Hampshire Senate, has also announced a run for Governor. Despite being mayor of New Hampshire’s largest city, Gatsas is relatively unknown to the state – 28 percent of state residents have a favorable opinion of Gatsas, 14 percent have an unfavorable opinion, 8 percent are neutral and 50 percent don’t know enough about him to have an opinion. Gatsas’ net favorability rating is +14%, which is up from +5% in February.

Click here for more from UNH Survey Center.

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