Donald Trump wins again.
Televisions and news agencies have proclaimed his victory in the New Hampshire primary elections shortly after the polls closed, which gives the idea that his victory has been clear despite the high participation.
While waiting for the scrutiny to progress, Trump's victory in New Hampshire adds to the president's overwhelming victory last week in the Iowa
caucuses
, where voters express their preferences in somewhat informal assemblies and where he achieved 51% of the vote. the votes.
In the last half century, all the candidates who have won in Iowa and New Hampshire have achieved the nomination as presidential candidates.
Trump has a clear path.
New Hampshire is the state where Nikki Haley, Trump's only real rival who remained this Tuesday after the withdrawal of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, had the best prospects.
But if Haley is not able to win in this relatively moderate state, where she had the enthusiastic support of the governor and where independent voters had the possibility of participating in the Republican primaries, the more difficult it will be for her in the rest of the country. .
Candidates who have been withdrawing from the race continued to appear on the Republican ballots, including former Vice President Mike Pence;
Senator Tim Scott;
investor Vivek Ramaswamy;
former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
They have received votes marginally.
The former ambassador to the UN and former governor of South Carolina has maintained until now that she was not going to throw in the towel even if she lost in New Hampshire, but that was the obligatory message in the campaign.
In light of this Tuesday's result, she will have to make decisions.
The next appointment is in Nevada, where she is not registered in the caucuses, the assemblies that will elect the delegates for the Republican convention, but in the primaries, ballot box voting, in this State unauthorized by the party.
Then comes South Carolina, Haley's home state, but where Trump leads the polls and has the support of the party apparatus and the vast majority of its local leaders.
Both Donald Trump and Nikki Haley are scheduled to appear before their followers tonight to assess their results.
If the campaign events of these days are any indication, Trump's victory in New Hampshire could be seen coming.
He has given his rallies in sports centers and theaters with much more capacity than the halls of institutes, schools, restaurants and hotels that Haley has chosen.
Supporters have packed the places where Trump spoke after waiting for hours in the cold and snow.
This Tuesday, the presence of Trumpists was also more noticeable at the voting centers.
Michael Guglielmo, 61, defended at the doors of a polling station in Concord, the state capital, that “Trump is the only legitimate candidate who represents the people.”
“He says what he does, he does what he says.
Does not lie.
He kept his promises.
We had peace through strength.
We didn't have wars.
We had a great economy, employment for blacks, Hispanics, business zones.
He was a businessman.
And maybe he didn't have the best decorum, but his policies were spot on.
So I prefer bad tweets and good policies,” said Guglielmo, a carpenter.
Very close by, near the state legislative headquarters, an information plaque reminds us of the importance that the citizens of New Hampshire give to the primaries.
Since 1920 they have been celebrated there before anywhere else.
The tourist sign claims that New Hampshire voters “have routinely favored the candidate who ultimately reaches the Oval Office.”
Trump is the charismatic leader around whom these primaries have revolved and his presence is on track to define the presidential elections on November 5 against the current president, Joe Biden, a repeat of the 2020 presidential elections. The majority of his followers, like Dylan Quatrucci, a 26-year-old student, maintain that the 2020 elections were rigged and that their accusations are electoral interference for this year's elections: “They continue to attack our democracy while pretending to defend democracy.
Which is a little ridiculous.”
Quatrucci says there are a “ton of reasons” why he supports Trump.
“I would say the main reason is freedom of expression, which I would say is threatened in the United States today,” he maintains.
“It is going to rebuild the best economy of all time.
He is going to keep us safe, safe domestically and internationally, by building our border wall.
And he's going to stop all drugs coming in over the southern border, because that's a big problem for the people of New Hampshire.
Many people know someone who has died from the drug epidemic here,” he adds.
He is contradicted by a 57-year-old woman who prefers not to say her name and who supports Nikki Haley.
“I think it's time for a change.
I like Trump, but Trump and Biden are too old and I think Nikki Haley has a better chance of winning the general election in November.
We need a new generation.
I also think it is time to have a woman as president,” she adds.
The thesis of electability is one of the ones that the Republican candidate has used the most, the idea that the chaos and scandals that accompany Trump scare away moderate and independent voters and can lead to a defeat for her party, as proven by the bad electoral results in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Exit polls have shown this Tuesday that Trump's dominance is overwhelming among voters registered as Republicans, while Haley only makes way among those who do not declare their party preference, who are classified as independents.
That may support the thesis that when push comes to shove, that of the November 5 elections against Biden, voters may turn their backs on Trump.
In any case, just as a little over a year ago, after the legislative elections in November 2022, the impression spread that Trump could not win the presidential election, recent polls place him as a favorite.
That partly explains why the primaries have gone so clearly in his favor and alternatives like DeSantis have fallen by the wayside.
This Tuesday there were also primaries among the Democrats.
In them the undisputed favorite was Joe Biden.
The scrutiny has been somewhat complicated by the fact that Biden was not on the ballots due to a dispute within the Democratic Party.
Those who wanted to vote for him had to write his name by hand and that cannot be read by machines.
The first data from the count showed an overwhelming dominance of handwritten ballots.
Waiting to process them, it seems an indication that Biden has had no problems prevailing over Congressman Dean Phillips and self-help book writer Marianne Williamson, the two most relevant rivals.
“I'm here to show my support for Joe Biden and encourage my friends and neighbors to vote for him,” says Colin Van Ostern, a 44-year-old technology executive and prominent Democratic activist.
“He's not on the ballot because of a political dispute within the party, but I'm not going to let the party bureaucrats decide who I vote for, whether I'm going to vote for him or not.
Joe Biden is the only person who has defeated Donald Trump and will do it again.
He also stands up for things that are very important to me, like an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top, basic rights like the right to abortion, which is really under attack in this country right now.”
[Breaking news.
There will be an update soon]
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