Donald Trump also won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday against his opponent Nikki Haley. It is a unique achievement in the Republican Party that a non-sitting president dominates both the caucus in deeply religious Iowa and the primary in libertarian New Hampshire. A repeat of the presidential election between Trump (77) and Joe Biden (81) in November seems inevitable.
When counting 42 percent of the votes, former President Trump (54.6 percent) has an impossible lead over Haley (43.7 percent), American media report. Since Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, dropped out of the race on Sunday, this has been a battle between Trump and Haley. She had invested a lot of campaign money and time on New Hampshire, where not only Republicans but also registered voters as independents were allowed to vote. It was not enough to make a dent in loyalty among right-wing voters to Trump, who is being prosecuted for 91 criminal offences.
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Yet, according to American experts, the results and voter surveys also show Trump’s weakness: he is unable to convince moderate voters. Voters he ultimately needs to defeat Biden. Haley stated that he would not give up after losing two states. “This race is far from over,” she said in response to the first results. Trump then called on her to withdraw. “She had a very bad evening,” he said. “But she’s still hanging around.”
In the Republican primaries, 2,429 delegates will be distributed. Formally, Trump can’t win a majority until March 12 at the earliest, if Haley can continue her campaign for that long. The next primary is on February 8, in Nevada, followed more than two weeks later by South Carolina. Haley previously served as governor of that conservative state, but many local politicians there have expressed support for Trump.
Biden wins without participating
Joe Biden also won a primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday – although he was not on the ballot there. The Democrats have overhauled the agenda for the primaries, starting in early February in South Carolina, a more ethnically diverse state than white New Hampshire.
Due to local legislation, the state in the northeast still held an earlier primary election, with 21 other candidates. Democratic voters who participated wrote Biden’s name on the ballot in the majority. He thus achieved a symbolic victory over his challengers, including Congressman Dean Phillips from Minnesota.