Donald Trump's controversial plan to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the United States isn't slowing the Republican front-runner down in New Hampshire polls. The latest WBUR poll, out Friday, shows Trump with his strongest lead yet among GOP voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state.
Trump remains in first place with the support of 27 percent of likely Republican primary voters, up 4 percentage points from the same poll in November.
Interviews for the poll began Sunday night, one day before Trump called for his temporary Muslim ban, and continued through Tuesday as criticism snowballed. The real estate mogul argued that the measure is necessary to prevent Islamic terrorists from coming to America.
Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie surged into second place at 12 percent, likely with the help of a late-November endorsement from the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper and a concerted focus on campaigning in the state, noted CNN.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida came in third with 11 percent, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in a close fourth, with 10 percent.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush rounds out the top five in New Hampshire, garnering 8 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich came next with 7 percent, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has struggled with foreign policy and media scrutiny, fell to 6 percent. All other candidates polled below the margin of error.
When asked about the most salient political issues, Republican voters in the Granite State said the Islamic State group is the nation's most dangerous threat. About 87 percent held this view, while only 11 percent called the terrorist group a minor threat.
Some 57 percent said that illegal immigration posed a major threat, while 28 percent said it was a minor one.
As for favorability among the candidates, Rubio led the pack with a net positive rating of 36 points - 58 percent to 22 percent. Voters were more split about Trump, who had 46 percent favorable to 43 percent unfavorable.
The telephone survey was conducted among 402 likely Republican primary voters from Dec. 6-8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
