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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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President Joe Biden's support among moderates has plummeted by 20 points in New Hampshire after his poor debate performance last week, according to a new poll.
The Saint Anselm College survey found that 38 percent of moderate voters said they would vote for Biden if the election were held today—down from the 58 percent who said the same in December. Forty-four percent of moderates would back Donald Trump, while 7 percent said they would vote for independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The poll surveyed 1,746 registered voters in New Hampshire between June 28 and 29 and has a margin of error of about 2.3 percent.
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The poll's results reflect the impact of the year's first presidential debate between Biden and Trump. Biden has been under intense pressure after his disturbing performance during the debate, which led to calls for him to be replaced at the top of the Democratic ticket ahead of November's election.
But Biden campaign spokesperson Seth Schuster told Newsweek after the debate that Biden "is not dropping out," a message that has been repeated by the campaign since last Thursday's event.
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Newsweek has contacted the Biden and Trump campaigns by email for comment about the latest polling.
With just months before the election, both moderate and liberal voters in New Hampshire, which is considered to lean Democratic, may be souring on Biden. Saint Anselm's poll in December that found 58 percent of moderates were backing Biden also reported that only 30 percent said they would vote for Trump. Ten percent said they would vote for Kennedy.
That poll also found that Biden had the support of the vast majority of very liberal (96 percent) and somewhat liberal (84 percent) voters in the state.
But the June poll suggests that Biden is also hemorrhaging support from liberal voters in New Hampshire. Only 67 percent of very liberal voters said they would cast their ballot for Biden if the election were held today, while 83 percent of somewhat liberal voters said they would vote for Biden.
Overall, the poll found Trump would edge out Biden in New Hampshire with the support of 44 percent of voters, compared with Biden's 42 percent.
The new poll found that almost half of moderates (48 percent) thought Trump was the winner of last week's debate, while just 5 percent said Biden performed better. But 44 percent of moderates said neither candidate won the debate. About 1 in 5 of somewhat and very liberal voters thought Trump won the debate, while even less thought Biden did. The majority of liberals said neither candidate won.
However, an overwhelming majority of both moderates and liberals said that the debate would not affect their vote for president.
"For Biden to succeed, he must solidify his support among very liberal voters," Neil Levesque, the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, said in a statement.
"Currently, only 67% of this group supports him, with 15% still undecided. Trump, on the other hand, is faring better among moderates (44% to 38%), undeclared voters (40% to 38%), and swing voters (39% to 21%)," Levesque said.
Former political pollster Adam Carlson said that winning back moderate voters will be tricky, but doable, for the president.
"Reassuring the base is half the battle, and probably the easier part," Carlson wrote on (formerly Twitter). "Simultaneously winning back moderates, while doable, will be much trickier."
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