North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum sees his presidential prospects rising following the release of a new Granite State poll.
The GOP presidential hopeful, who is barely showing up in national polls, garnered 6 percent support in the University of New Hampshire’s latest poll of likely Granite State primary voters. That’s good for a fourth-place showing.
Burgum also announced that his campaign exceeded the Republican National Committee’s donor requirements to qualify for the GOP’s first debate in Milwaukee next month.
Former President Donald Trump leads his closest competitor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, by double digits (37 percent to 23 percent) in the Granite State Poll, a State of Opinion Project conducted by the University of New Hampshire.
The next level of Republican presidential nominee contestants include U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) at 8 percent, with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tied with Burgum for fourth place at 6 percent.
Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are next, each with 5 percent support, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence and former congressman and CIA agent Will Hurd at 1 percent, and the rest of the crowded field not registering.
“A majority (52%) of self-described conservatives and a plurality of libertarians (39%) support Trump, bot moderates are split, with 26 percent supporting DeSantis, 16 percent supporting Scott, 15 percent supporting Christie, 11 percent supporting Trump and 10 percent supporting Burgum,” the poll notes.
Burgum’s campaign on Wednesday reported the candidate received more than 40,000 individual donations, including more than 200 from 20 different states — one of the RNC requirements for entry into the August 23 Republican primary debate. They add that the billionaire businessman hit the metrics just six weeks after launching his campaign for the White House.
“Doug Burgum is well on his way to appearing on the debate stage after meeting the donor threshold and surging in New Hampshire,” said campaign spokesman Lance Trover. “Voters know America needs a governor and business leader like Doug to fix the economy, unleash American energy and win the Cold War with China.”
It’s the polling criteria that remain an obstacle for Burgum. While posting a strong showing in the latest New Hampshire poll, the long-shot candidate will need to hit either 1 percent in three national polls or “two national polls and 1% in one early state poll from separate ‘carve out’ states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina) recognized by the RNC.”
Burgum’s showing in the University of New Hampshire poll helps, but he’s running at just a tenth of a percentage point in the latest RealClearPolitics average of national GOP presidential primary polls. He’s at zero in post-July 1 polls, including Quinnipiac’s, Morning Consult’s, the I&I TIPP poll, and the Economist/YouGov survey.
He doesn’t rate in the latest American Greatness poll of Iowa likely Republican caucusgoers.
The Burgum camp, however, sounds emboldened by his latest showing in the Granite State and in his campaign war chest.
While the governor has mostly self-funded his quest for the presidency thus far, he has attracted some interesting donors. Oakland A’s owner John Fisher and several of his family members have contributed the maximum amount allowed under campaign finance laws to Burgum’s campaign, according to Sfgate.com
“Fisher and his brothers Bob and William — all Gap Inc. heirs — each gave the candidate $3,300,” the publication reported.
John Fisher, a long-time donor to conservative campaigns, is the subject of much disdain in the far left Bay Area, particularly as he angles to move Oakland’s Major League Baseball franchise to Las Vegas.
Fisher, like Burgum, is a Stanford business school grad.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Doug Burgum” by Doug Burgum.
