Poll tests Ayotte's campaign message to keep N.H. from 'turning into Mass.'

New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte has repeatedly dragged Massachusetts into her 2024 campaign, but a new poll shows that Granite State voters are split as to whether there is a "threat" of their home becoming more like Massachusetts. At least according to pollsters at a Bay State university.

A Republican who previously served as the Granite State's attorney general and in the U.S. Senate, Ayotte has said she is running for governor because she fears New Hampshire is "one election away from turning into Massachusetts." Results of a poll of New Hampshire likely voters, released by the University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Public Opinion and YouGov, showed that message does not resonate much outside of Republican primary voters.

When asked how much New Hampshire is at risk of becoming too much like Massachusetts in the next decade, 36% said there is no risk at all, 34% said there is somewhat of a risk, and 30% said the risk is great, according to the poll. Republicans were more likely to see a risk — 49% said the risk is great while 20% said there is no risk, compared to 11% great risk and 52% no risk among Democrats.

"In an increasingly nationalized political environment, it’s unclear whether Kelly Ayotte’s choice to run against Massachusetts liberals is the right strategy to put her into the governor’s mansion," UMass Lowell professor Joshua Dyck, the center’s director and chair of the political science department, said.

"We won’t have a better idea of where this race stands until New Hampshire voters get to know her potential opponents for the fall election. In the meantime, one thing she does have on her side is name recognition in a sea of relatively unknown candidates."

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who grew up in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, endorsed Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig's candidacy for governor last year when Chris Sununu announced that he would not seek another term.

Ayotte has used Healey and Massachusetts as a foil during her Republican primary campaign, recently accusing Healey of being soft on crime based on a car with a Massachusetts license plate allegedly being involved in a Nashua robbery.