Ayotte leading Craig by 4 points in NH governor's race

Former GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) leads former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig (D) by 4 percentage points in New Hampshire’s gubernatorial race, according to a University of New Hampshire survey.

The survey shows 48 percent of likely voters are throwing their support behind Ayotte, and 44 percent are backing Craig, while 6 percent of voters are still undecided. In September, the survey showed Craig in the lead by 1 percentage point.

While each candidate has more support from their respective sides of the aisle, the survey reports Ayotte getting more split-ticket votes than Craig. Ayotte also leads Craig among independent respondents, with 51 percent backing the former senator compared to Craig's 31 percent. Fourteen percent of independents remain undecided.

In terms of favorability, 36 percent of respondents have a favorable view of Ayotte, 15 percent have a neutral view and 45 percent have an unfavorable view of the GOP candidate. Meanwhile, 32 percent of respondents have a favorable view of Craig, 17 percent have a neutral view and 40 percent have an unfavorable view.

The candidates are in the race to replace four-term Republican Gov. Chris Sununu in one of the few competitive governor races this year. It is currently the only gubernatorial race Cook Political Report rates as a “toss-up.”

New Hampshire has been a blue state in every presidential election since 2004 and mostly had Democratic representatives and senators in Congress for the past 15 years. However, Sununu was elected by increasingly comfortable margins, and the Republican has enjoyed strong approval ratings throughout his tenure.

The University of New Hampshire survey was conducted from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3 among 2,887 adults, and the margin of error was 1.8 percentage points.