ASSOCIATED PRESS
Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire GOP primary, while President Joe Biden prevailed on the Democratic side as a write-in candidate.
The former president’s commanding victory makes a November rematch with Biden look more likely than ever. Trump’s main rival, Nikki Haley, finished in second.
Biden didn’t campaign in the state or have his name placed on the ballot after New Hampshire defied new party rules by holding its primary before South Carolina’s.
How Trump won in New Hampshire
WASHINGTON — AP VoteCast showed Trump won big in small towns and rural communities, where about two-thirds of primary participants said they live. Most GOP voters in the state lack a college degree and about two-thirds of them voted for Trump. The former president won about 7 in 10 Republican voters who identified as conservatives and those who were registered Republicans.
Why the AP called New Hampshire’s Democratic primary for Biden
WASHINGTON — The Associated Press declared President Joe Biden the winner of New Hampshire’s Democratic primary based on an analysis of initial vote returns where write-in votes have been tabulated by candidate.
The early returns confirm the findings of AP’s VoteCast survey of likely Democratic primary voters, which found an overwhelming majority of write-in voters supporting the incumbent president. Together, they show that Biden has an insurmountable lead over the rest of the Democratic field.
Biden decided not to put his name on the New Hampshire ballot, since the state’s primary violates Democratic Party rules. It was Biden’s idea to bump the state from its prized first-in-the-nation primary calendar slot in favor of South Carolina, which resuscitated his struggling campaign in 2020. Instead, his supporters are backing him as a write-in candidate.
The VoteCast survey asked likely voters if they would support U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, author Marianne Williamson or someone else. Of those who said they support someone else, nearly all indicated they would write in Biden.
As of 8:09 p.m., Phillips and Williamson were at 21% and 5% of the tabulated vote, respectively, and AP’s analysis shows that there are no scenarios for either to end up the winner.
Why the AP called New Hampshire’s Republican primary for Trump
WASHINGTON — The Associated Press declared Trump the winner based on an analysis of initial vote returns as well as the results of AP VoteCast, a survey of Republican primary voters. Both indicated Trump was running ahead of Haley by an insurmountable margin.
Initial results from more than 25 townships showed Trump leading by a comfortable margin as of 8 p.m. This includes results from Manchester and Concord, two of the state’s three most-populous cities. Early returns were also reported from more rural areas in the northern and eastern parts of the state. All confirmed the findings of AP’s survey.
The only areas in which Haley was leading Trump in early returns were in the state’s most Democratic-leaning cities and towns, such as Concord, Keene and Portsmouth.
VoteCast showed Trump leading Haley by a substantial margin across all regions of the state. It also showed Haley supported by a majority of unaffiliated voters choosing to cast their ballot in the Republican primary. That wasn’t enough to make up for Trump’s nearly 50-point lead among registered Republicans. New Hampshire allows voters not affiliated with a political party to participate in either party’s primary. Voters registered with a party may only vote in their own party’s primary.
New Hampshire’s 22 delegates will be allocated proportionally among candidates who receive at least 10% of the vote statewide.
