Latest New Hampshire poll (06/02/10) still shows Governor Lynch under 50%

  The latest New Hampshire poll is out and it shows us that, for the fourth time in a row, Governor John Lynch is under 50% in his re-election bid against likely Republican nominee  John Stephen.

  He still leads John Stephen by a margin of 47%-35% but the fact that the once very popular governor still is not able to get back over the 50% mark in his re-election bid has to be concerning to his campaign. After all– as the article I linked to states– this is the same scenario that Craig Benson found himself in back in 2004 when John Lynch was eventually able to beat him in a very close race.

  Governor Lynch’s approval rating continues to slide as well; back in May he still enjoyed an approval rating of 56%– down from an approval rating of nearly 70% just two years ago– but his approval rating has fallen again just one short month later, he now has an approval rating of 51%. This is barely respectable under normal circumstances, but considering the popularity that the governor once enjoyed, this is a precipitous drop. John Lynch’s dramatic drop in the polls continues.

  While the governor will probably publically point to the fact that he still enjoys a double digit lead in all of the matchups with his potential opponents in November as a sign that he still has support among the voters of New Hampshire, privately he has to understand that he could be in trouble in November.

  It is true that he still leads his most likely opponent by 12 points, but the fact remains that not enough people know enough about John Stephen yet to commit a vote for him. That will likely change once the primary is over and the general election campaign season begins.

  Once the Republicans have their nominee and the general election debates begin, and once people get to see what are surely to be the stark differences between the candidates, I expect these numbers to get much closer.

  This is the year that Governor Lynch could be in trouble, and I think that while he will never acknowledge it publically, he has to be worried. This is shaping up to be an anti-incumbant year and with any luck one of the victims will be John Lynch.

  The campaign hasn’t started yet, but it is shaping up to be very interesting indeed!