Chris Pappas

The potential general election candidates to replace retiring Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the New Hampshire Democrat, are virtually tied in their hypothetical race, a poll published Thursday shows.

Forty-five percent of likely voters told Emerson College, which surveyed a thousand residents this past weekend, that they would cast their ballot for Democratic U.S. Representative Chris Pappas. Forty-four percent expressed support for former Republican Governor Chris Sununu.

Papas and Sununu are polling ahead of their opponents for the primary elections, which will take place in September, two months before the general election. Several surveys show Pappas overwhelmingly defeating Karishma Manzur, a scientist and progressive activist, and Sununu has a substantial lead over former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during the first Trump administration.

Saint Anselm College, a New Hampshire school, found in a poll conducted last week that Democrats were gaining ground in the state because of the president’s economic and foreign entanglements.

“War and economic uncertainty are creating headwinds for Republicans in New Hampshire, putting Congressman Chris Pappas in a stronger position than in our previous survey,” Neil Levesque, executive director of the school’s political institute, said in a statement.