New Hampshire primary voters split on whether Trump should be president if convicted: Exit polls

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire – Voters in New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary on Jan 23 were sharply divided over whether Donald Trump would be fit for office if convicted of a crime.

It is a sign the former president’s legal troubles could dog him in any general election match-up with President Joe Biden.

Early exit polls showed that 50 per cent of Republican primary voters said Trump would be fit for the presidency if convicted of a crime, while 47 per cent said he would not be fit to serve if convicted, according to the preliminary results of an exit poll conducted on Jan 23 by Edison Research.

The exit polls also showed that 49 per cent of New Hampshire primary voters do not think Mr Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election, a false claim perpetuated by Trump since he lost it.

They showed 69 per cent of Republican primary voters said the economy was either poor or not good, an area where Mr Biden has struggled to highlight improvements during his administration.

Republicans made up a smaller share of voters in the primary relative to the state’s 2016 Republican contest in the state, the exit polls showed.

Some 47 per cent of voters considered themselves Republican, compared with 55 per cent in the 2016 primary.

Eight per cent said they considered themselves Democrats, compared with 3 per cent in 2016. The share of independents was little changed at 45 per cent.

Most polling stations in the state closed at 7pm (8am Singapore time, Jan 24), but some remained open until 8pm.

Mrs Nikki Haley looked to

keep her White House hopes alive in New Hampshire

by slowing Trump’s march to the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and scoring enough support to keep her campaign going in bigger, more diverse US states.

Trump had a

record-setting victory in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation contest

last week. New Hampshire is only the second state to hold a Republican presidential nominating contest.

A resounding win in New Hampshire would help propel Trump to secure the party’s nomination despite multiple criminal counts against him, two impeachments and his chaotic 2017 to 2021 presidency.

Trump and Mrs Haley, a former South Carolina governor who was his ambassador to the United Nations, were in a two-person race in the New England state after

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out

and endorsed Trump.

Opinion polls show Trump with a wide lead over Mrs Haley, who needs a victory or at least a strong showing in New Hampshire to carry her to the next nominating contest in her home state, where Trump is also dominant in the polls.

The Republican nominee will face Mr Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the general election on Nov 5.

Noting that the exit poll result showed Mrs Haley dominating among moderates and liberals and even pulling in roughly a third of conservatives, Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said Mrs Haley could be heading for a “good night” relative to Trump.

“If these results hold up, she is eating into his base in a way that did not happen in Iowa,” he said.

New Hampshire’s Secretary of State David Scanlan said he expected a healthy Republican turnout on Jan 23 and that results should be in quickly.

‘I’m very confident,’ Trump says

Trump, who is balancing campaign stops with appearances in various criminal and civil courts, denies wrongdoing and has used the criminal charges to bolster his claim of political persecution.

He predicted victory in New Hampshire early on Jan 23, saying the level of enthusiasm was incredible. Later, during a stop at a polling station in the town of Londonderry, Trump briefly addressed supporters.

“So excited. I’m very confident,” he said.

The first ballots in New Hampshire went to Mrs Haley. Voters in the tiny northern hamlet of Dixville Notch – always the first to vote in the state – chose Mrs Haley over Trump 6-0.

Like Iowa, New Hampshire is mostly a white state with a small population, but it has a more moderate Republican electorate and a better record of predicting eventual nominees.

Mrs Haley came in a close third behind Mr DeSantis in Iowa and has focused her early campaign on New Hampshire. “You just want to keep getting stronger and stronger and stronger. That’s our goal,” she said in Manchester.

Mrs Haley’s campaign said on Jan 23 that it intends to keep her candidacy alive through “Super Tuesday” in early March, when 16 states vote.

Democrats’ strategy

Mr Biden is not on the ballot in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary, having supported an effort by his party to move their first primary election to the more diverse state of South Carolina.

New Hampshire supporters will still be able to vote for him by writing Mr Biden’s name on the ballot, which could be a barometer of his political strength.

The Democratic President, whose advisers are anticipating a rematch with Trump, took aim at Republicans over their efforts to curb abortion rights in a Virginia speech on Jan 23.

But his remarks were interrupted repeatedly by hecklers protesting against his policies towards Israel.

Democrats in Virginia secured majorities in the state legislature after making abortion rights a central campaign issue.

The Supreme Court, with a conservative majority made possible by three justices who joined the court under Trump, struck down in 2022 the Roe v Wade ruling that guaranteed women’s right to abortion.

Mr Biden has cast Trump as a would-be dictator and a threat to democracy.

In New Hampshire, Mrs Haley stepped up her attacks on Trump, criticising his affinity for strongmen such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Mrs Haley, 52, has also gone after Trump’s age – he is 77 – and mental acuity, attacks she has also regularly levelled at Mr Biden, who is 81.

She took up the theme again on Jan 23, saying the country needs to put someone in the White House that can put in eight years to get it back on track.

“Do you want two 80-year-olds running for president?” Mrs Haley asked. REUTERS