Chris Christie and Nikki Haley have a Dean Phillips problem in New Hampshire

Dean Phillips isn’t likely to hurt Joe Biden in New Hampshire. But his entry into the Democratic primary could spoil Nikki Haley and Chris Christie’s electoral math here.

The two Republicans are polling better than any other candidate with New Hampshire independents who are likely to pull a GOP ballot in the state’s open presidential primary. That’s a major boost in a state where independents make up the largest share of the electorate — and where the lack of a serious contest on the Democratic side meant many of them were poised to vote in the Republican primary.

But by challenging Biden, Phillips gave those voters another choice. Less than a month after launching his campaign, the Minnesota lawmaker is already pulling in 10 percent support among independents in a recent poll of likely Democratic primary voters.

And suddenly, Haley and Christie are encountering independent voters at their town halls who may not vote in the Republican primary after all.

“I would like to hear Dean Phillips,” Larry Gray, a Newcastle independent, said about an hour after telling Christie at a recent business roundtable that he was backing the former New Jersey governor.

Diane Noble, a Nashua independent who’s interested in Haley and Christie, said at a town hall for the former South Carolina governor that she’ll “absolutely” be doing her due diligence on the Democratic side now that Phillips is in.