Republican Senate candidate Gen. Don Bolduc has come from behind and is now virtually tied with Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) in New Hampshire’s Senate race, a Fabrizio, Lee & Associates poll found Friday.

The race Senate Republicans were perhaps most worried about finally appears to have turned in favor of the GOP with just 18 days until election day.

Forty-nine percent of voters said they support Hassan, while 47 supported Gen. Bolduc, well within the 4 point margin of error. Four percent remain undecided.

Notably, Hassan did not win 50 or more percent support, a strong warning the incumbent is in trouble. Incumbents with over 50 percent support have a far higher chance of winning reelection.

The survey sampled 600 likely 2022 general election voters in New Hampshire from October 17-19 with a 4 point margin of error. The interviews were split 35 percent cell phone, 35 percent SMS to web, and 30 percent landline phone.

Respondents were randomly selected from lists of known Granite State voters. Thirty-one percent were Republicans. Thirty-one percent were Democrats. Thirty-six percent were independents.

Gen. Bolduc’s surge is remarkable. Suffolk University/Boston Globe polling three weeks ago showed Hassan with a nine point lead (50-41 percent) over Gen. Bolduc.

That lead was cut to seven points (52-45 percent) in an October 12 AARP poll. Both polls showed Hassan with majority support.

The latest polling comes as Granite Staters are suffering from inflation, reportedly the number one issue in New Hampshire.

Gen. Bolduc has taken the issue head on by highlighting Hassan’s voting record, which has fueled inflation. Hassan voted for Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget plan, the $1.9 trillion for coronavirus stimulus, a debt limit increase, and the $3 trillion infrastructure package. She also voted for the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” which will cost taxpayers 700 billion dollars. Experts also say the bill will not reduce inflation.

“Look at what has happened to New Hampshire: historic inflation, people are hurting — they can’t afford the necessities of life,” Gen. Bolduc said during Tuesday’s debate. “We’ve got to get rid of career politicians. Granite Staters say, ‘Number one problem is career politicians.’ Twenty years, right there,” he said, pointing at Hassan in the room.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) speaks during the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Hassan has defended her record by claiming the massive spending was due to the pandemic. “There was a lot that we needed to do,” she said.

“Bolduc would fight for Big Pharma & Big Oil, not Granite Staters,” she tweeted Tuesday, without presenting any evidence. “I’m working to hold corporate special interests accountable and lower costs on everyday goods.”

Another issue that has impacted the campaign is illegal immigration and the flood of fentanyl into the nation. Hassan has ignored Biden’s “catch and release” policy. The term “catch and release” refers to the administration’s policy of releasing migrants throughout the nation while they await a court hearing rather than detaining them, as required by law.

“She has supported Joe Biden 100% of the time, Schumer 96 percent of the time,” Gen. Bolduc said of Hassan on Breitbart News Saturday.  “People are struggling in New Hampshire. I think everything that Senator Hassan was doing is hurting Granite Staters.”

When Breitbart News’s Matt Boyle asked what can be done to end the fentanyl crisis in New Hampshire, the general laid out a four-step plan.

“The first thing we need to do is secure the border. The second thing we need to do is give our law enforcement all the tools they need, which she [Hassan] just voted against doing, and the third thing is that we need to designate the cartels as terrorist organizations, so we can get the whole weight of our joint terrorism task force behind interdicting these cartels,” he said.

“And then stop this nonsense where we allow distributors and manufacturers and people that are selling [drugs] to plead down and not do any jail time,” Gen. Bolduc added.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.