New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, issued some dire news to former President Donald Trump on Saturday by saying that most voters in his state are "not with Trump."
While appearing on Fox News, Sununu referenced a University of New Hampshire poll that was published on Tuesday that found Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gained ground on Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race. Trump's 20-point lead in April over DeSantis shrunk to 14 in the poll, which was conducted among 898 likely GOP primary voters between July 13 and 17.
Still, Trump remains the GOP frontrunner as 37 percent of respondents in the poll said they planned to vote for him in the early primary. Meanwhile, 23 percent of respondents said they would back DeSantis, while other candidates received a total of 32 percent. New Hampshire, in addition to being a swing state in the general election and where President Joe Biden won in 2020, will be the first state to hold a primary election, though the date has not been formally announced. Candidates who do well in the state's primary often receive polling and fundraising boosts.
"When you have an incumbent president that's sitting under 40 percent, that's a huge opportunity for everybody else. Now it probably means were going to have to coalesce one or two candidates around that other category, but that's 60 plus percent of the voters right now that are not with Trump here in New Hampshire," Sununu said on Saturday. "I think that number will grow even more and more."
The Republican governor added: "All off these candidates have to start hitting this guy [Trump]. You can't run against somebody and be 20 points down, but not be willing to talk about him.
"A lot of our hope is they got to get on the debate stage. Either you're willing to swing, you're willing to give the punch and take the punch and show leadership or you're cow towing. I don't understand the politics of it. You're not going to get a Trump voter."
Sununu continued: "If the base is with Trump the base is with Trump. He's still going to be in the race, so you got to find your own path and I think [former New Jersey Governor] Chris [Christie] was right, you got to go through him."
"He or she who does that is going to be able to galvanize a lot of folks around him," he said, adding that is the path to get the nomination.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump's campaign via email for comment.
Political analyst Craig Agranoff told Newsweek on Saturday that "New Hampshire, Georgia and Arizona are all important for winning the general election" in 2024 since they are "where Trump's popularity has declined in recent years."
Agranoff added: "It's too early to say for sure whether the polls will shift in favor of DeSantis as 2024 draws closer. However, he is certainly a rising star in the Republican Party and he has a lot of potential to appeal to voters in swing states. If he can differentiate himself from Trump, he could be a serious contender for the Republican nomination."
