If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

POLITICS

Election 2026: New Hampshire Senate

N.H. Senate: Lead Narrows for Democrat Pappas

Democrat Rep. Chris Pappas now leads by five points over former Republican Sen. John Sununu in the race to fill the New Hampshire Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that, if the election were held today, 49% of Likely New Hampshire voters would vote for Pappas, while 44% would vote for Sununu.

Three percent (3%) would vote for Constitution Party candidate Edmond Laplante and  four percent (4%) are not sure. Sununu has gained ground since early September, when Pappas led by 11 points, 45% to 34%. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free) or follow us on Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

The survey of 979 New Hampshire Likely Voters was conducted on  October 2-, 2026 by Rasmussen Reports.

The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

Want to read more?

Become a Rasmussen Reader to read the article

Have an account?

Log In

Become a Reader

Subscribe

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.

To learn more about our methodology, click here.