Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) takes an eight-point lead over Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) in an NBC/WSJ/Marist poll of the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire, expanding her margin over her Democratic challenger after a previous streak of the Senator behind.

Ayotte leads the race, 52 percent to 44 percent, among likely New Hampshire voters.

The most recent poll, from Emerson College, of the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire showed a two-point lead for Ayotte, but earlier August polls from WMUR/University of New Hampshire and MassINC Polling have shown Hassan ahead by multiple points.

The NBC/WSJ/Marist poll was conducted Sept. 6-8 over the phone among 737 likely New Hampshire voters, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

TPM’s PollTracker Average for the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire shows Ayotte leading Hassan, 49.9 percent to 44.4 percent.