Getty Trump extends lead in New Hampshire poll The Manhattan mogul is at 23 percent, a 5-point increase from last month.

Donald Trump is widening the gap between himself and his closest rivals in the first-in-the-nation primary, according to the results of a new WBUR poll released Wednesday morning surveying likely New Hampshire voters likely to vote in February's election. But Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is the best-liked candidate.

The Manhattan business mogul took in 23 percent, a 5-point increase from last month, while Ben Carson dropped slightly to 13 percent, down three points. Rubio also earned 13 percent, a 2-point pick-up from the survey conducted Oct. 29-Nov. 1. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz earned 8 percent (a 2-point jump), followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 7 percent. For Bush, the results are the same as the last WBUR survey; for Kasich, the latest results represent a 3-point drop in support.


New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took in 6 percent (a 2-point decrease), followed by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul at 5 percent (a 2-point increase) and Carly Fiorina at 4 percent, also a 2-point decrease. Since September, Fiorina has dropped 7 points. All other candidates earned 2 percent or less support, while 6 percent said they did not know for whom they would cast their ballot.

Carson's favorability numbers also dipped from a net positive of 44 points (63 percent to 19 percent) earlier this month to 29 points (55 percent to 26 percent) in this poll. Overall, Rubio polled highest in that regard this time, 57 percent to 20 percent, up slightly from the last survey.

Among those who watched the debate, a strong plurality of 36 percent said Rubio performed best, followed by 16 percent for Cruz and 9 percent for Trump. As far as the worst performance, 26 percent said Kasich fared most poorly, followed by 20 percent who thought the same of Trump and 16 percent for Bush.

In the survey, conducted in the two days following the deadly Paris terrorist attacks, voters appeared largely split over expanding American troops in the Middle East. A plurality of 38 percent said the next president should send more troops to the region, while 28 percent said troop levels should remain as they are and 22 percent said the next commander in chief should remove as many as possible.

The survey was conducted Nov. 14-15 via landlines and cellphones, surveying 405 likely voters in the New Hampshire Republican primary, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.