Former President Donald Trump marched even closer to clinching his party’s presidential nomination after the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, dealing a blow to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s prospects even as she refuses to drop out.
Several news outlets called the race in favor of Trump shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. EST, giving the former president another boost for his candidacy as he seeks to cement the GOP nomination. With 87% of the vote counted, Trump led 55% to Haley’s 43%. The results were hardly a surprise for many of Trump’s supporters, as polls showed him with a substantial lead for weeks leading up to the election.
New Hampshire served as a major test for Haley as she wagered much of her campaign on winning big in the Granite State, hoping it would give her candidacy a boost early in the primary cycle. But after falling to Trump, her second place raises questions about her overall strength as a candidate.
Here are four key takeaways from the New Hampshire primary as candidates now turn their eyes to the next nominating contests:
Trump secures historic victory with wins in Iowa and New Hampshire
Trump easily defeated Haley on Tuesday, garnering 55% of the vote among GOP and independent voters with nearly three-fourths of the vote tallied. The victory also foretells good news for the former president, as no Republican candidate has ever won both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary without going on to win the party’s presidential nomination.
Trump’s win has prompted his top allies to renew calls for Haley to drop out of the race, declaring the primary season to be over after New Hampshire.
“It is time for the Republican Party to coalesce around our nominee and the next president of the United States, Donald Trump,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), once a primary rival to Trump, said Tuesday night.
Trump also offered a stark warning to supporters after his victory in New Hampshire, claiming the country “has no choice” but to reelect him.
“If we don’t win, I think our country is finished,” he said. “The reason we have support is because they are so bad at what they’re doing and so evil, and they’re destroying our country.”
Despite trailing behind, Nikki Haley remains a thorn in Trump’s side
Although Haley failed to overcome Trump at the ballot box, the former U.N. ambassador is not ready to succumb to her former boss.
Shortly after the race was called in Trump’s favor, Haley congratulated him on his win while also making clear she was not yet throwing in the towel. Haley pointed to the lead by which Trump won, which was smaller than the former president once confidently predicted, as evidence her campaign is still “moving up.”
“New Hampshire is the first in the nation; it is not the last in the nation,” Haley told supporters. “This race is far from over; there are dozens of states left to go.”
Haley’s adamance underscores a possible strategy being employed by her campaign to continue pouring resources into states with open primaries that allow independent or Democratic voters to weigh in on the GOP nomination. Such a strategy would include a focus on South Carolina and Michigan, as well as 11 other primary states scheduled for Super Tuesday in March.
That could prove to be a burden to Trump, whose team had hoped Haley would drop out after her loss in New Hampshire so the former president could begin focusing all his resources on the general election. Instead, by keeping her campaign alive, Trump’s team may be forced to spend money in South Carolina to diminish any momentum Haley may gain before its Feb. 24 primary.
Exit polls indicate MAGA movement may not be a winning message everywhere
Similar to the Iowa caucuses, Trump managed to snag the victory quickly and surely. But one key difference between the two contests: Fewer GOP voters in the Granite State say they identify themselves as a part of the MAGA movement, short for Trump’s slogan of Make America Great Again.
Most voters who voted in the GOP primary in New Hampshire said they did not align themselves with Trump’s MAGA campaign, according to exit polls conducted by CNN. Those numbers are a significant drop from the nearly half of caucusgoers in Iowa who identified themselves as MAGA voters.
Roughly half of the voters on Tuesday said they believed President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020 was legitimate, the poll showed — again another shift from the roughly two-thirds who denied Biden’s victory in Iowa, according to the outlet.
The difference in electorates indicates Trump’s MAGA message may not be a winning platform in every state, which could play a role in how the former president fares in other primary races or a rematch with Biden.
Biden avoids embarrassment with victorious write-in campaign
Biden also walked away with a small victory on Tuesday after winning the Democratic contest despite not being on the primary ballot.
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Biden did not submit his name to appear on the ballot amid a feud that emerged after the Democratic National Committee stripped New Hampshire of its first-in-the-nation status on the party’s presidential nominating calendar. Instead, voters used the opportunity to organize an expansive write-in campaign for the president in order to blunt any strong showings from his Democratic opponents — namely, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN).
The Associated Press called the race in Biden’s favor shortly after the polls closed. With 85% of the ballots in, Biden had tallied at least a third of the votes, while another third were write-in votes that had yet to be processed. Phillips garnered 20% of the vote, while author Marianne Williamson trailed behind at 5%.
