Sen. Marco Rubio has tripled his standing in a New Hampshire poll of primary voters in the last two months, a reflection of his rising position in the Republican primary since the GOP debate.
The Florida senator is the favorite to win the New Hampshire GOP contest among 13% of likely primary voters in the state, according to a Monmouth University poll, compared with 4% in the university’s September poll.
He falls behind Donald Trump at 26% and Ben Carson at 16%, and has nearly double Jeb Bush’s support in the state.
Rubio stood out in the CNBC debate last week, challenging Bush and winning applause from the audience for his attacks on the media. On Friday the New York Times reported that he won the support of a major billionaire donor and fundraiser, Paul Singer.
Trump has taken note of Rubio’s rise and on Monday criticized his record on immigration. Rubio was one of the architects of immigration reform in the Senate, working on a bill that gave undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, and later renounced that measure in the bill when it failed.
Read more: Donald Trump Sets His Sights on New Target Marco Rubio
The Monmouth poll samples voters who have voted participated in a primary election in the past two election cycles or voted in both the 2012 and 2014 general elections, who tend to be older than many in the state. This methodology has been questioned in the Iowa Democratic contest.
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