HAMPTON, New Hampshire — Granite State officials are proud to hold the nation’s first major title — and aren’t shy about patronizing other leading states in the nomination process.
“With all due respect to Iowa, thanks for playing but give me a break,” GOP Gov. Chris Sununu told a rally over the weekend. “Do you know [Donald] Trump got 56,000 votes in Iowa, out of over 3 million people!?”
“Will that determine the choice of the Republican Party? I don’t think so,” he continued. “You know what will determine that choice? You.”
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley leaned into that spirit when she told a town hall in Milford Jan. 3, “You know Iowa started it. You know you fixed it.”
Twenty days later, New Hampshire voters will decide whether they, in fact, want to “fix” Iowa.
Live election results from New Hampshire
While the Hawkeye State has a poor track record in electing Republican candidates, with George W. Bush in 2000 being the last caucus winner to win the nod, New Hampshire predicted GOP picks in 2008, 2012 and 2016, the last three times Republicans had a primary that contested.
And with the 77-year-old Trump winning by nearly 30 points in Iowa last week, and leading the polls by double digits in New Hampshire, the “correction” may turn into a coronation.
“Absolutely,” Lizabeth McLaughlin, a Haley supporter from Marlborough, told The Post when asked if the New Hampshire result meant more than the Iowa one.
“We only got about 18% of the turnout in Iowa. That is not an indicator.”
New Hampshire voters will decide whether to follow Iowa’s lead. Reuters
Kim Rice, a Haley supporter and former speaker pro tempore of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, insisted that it was all good fun between the two early states.
“I have a good friend in Iowa and I said to him, ‘Thank God Iowans have a sense of humor because Ron DeSantis is trying to turn it into something negative,'” Rice said.
“My friend in Iowa, he and I always go back and forth about who is really first in the nation. We’ll see what happens.”
Nikki Haley is hoping for a strong showing in New Hampshire and then plans to move on to South Carolina. CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
While Haley voters hoped to change the narrative, Trump supporters were perfectly fine with following Iowa’s lead.
“New Hampshire is basically Trump state,” said Dennis Malboeuf, 58.
Trump himself has basked in polling data that shows he has a commanding lead.
“Now we’re down to two and I think one will go maybe tomorrow. The other one will be gone in November,” Trump said at a rally in Laconia on the first night.
Manufacturing worker Andy Davis, 56, of Hopkinton, is confident New Hampshire voters will support the former president.
Donald Trump has drawn crowds in New Hampshire. Reuters
“I think she’s just part of the system,” he said of Haley. “When the media is after someone or if the system is after someone, they may be telling the truth.”
“I was never a fan of Trump before politics. I thought he was just a loud New Yorker,” he continued. “But I love what he did for the country.”
The former eldest son of Donald Trump Jr. is careful in setting expectations, although he does not doubt the final result.
New Hampshire voters are comparing the top two Republican contenders. Getty Images
“I don’t like setting unrealistic expectations so that if you miss it, it gives the media and other parties and billionaire donors an opportunity to drag this out forever,” Trump Jr. told reporters.
Early polling data showed that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race Sunday and Trump’s subsequent support has been a boost for the 45th president.
Trump averaged 55.8% support in New Hampshire, dwarfing Haley’s average support of 36.5%, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
