One day before New Hampshire voters begin casting ballots, Donald Trump appeared to be on the verge of pulling off something unprecedented: winning the first-in-the-nation presidential primary as well as the Iowa caucuses a week ago.
No Republican has ever won the first two bouts on the presidential nominating calendar since the Iowa caucuses conducted their first straw poll in 1976.
But having swept all but one of Iowa's 99 counties and rolled up more than half the vote in the caucuses over opponents Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, Trump went into New Hampshire with considerable momentum. DeSantis' surprise withdrawal and endorsement of the former president no doubt boosted Trump's front-runner status. A just-completed CNN poll in New Hampshire showed Trump leading Haley by 50% to 39% among likely GOP primary voters.
Haley insisted over the weekend that whether she wins or loses in New Hampshire on Tuesday, she will carry on through the primary in her home state of South Carolina on Feb. 23.
Trump made clear over the weekend he hopes she will end her candidacy before then, and, at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Saturday that drew overflow crowds, he was flanked by a Who's Who of South Carolina GOP supporters: Gov. Henry McMaster, three state officials, Reps. Joe Wilson, Russell Fry, and William Timmons, and State House Speaker Murrell Smith, who vowed "to finish the job in South Carolina" — meaning wrap up the nomination for Trump by defeating Haley on her own turf.
A day before, South Carolina's Sen. Tim Scott, who ended his own presidential bid two months ago, threw his support to Trump.
But Haley supporters in New Hampshire insisted to Newsmax that the race is not over, and that a big turnout just might spell an upset for the former U.N. ambassador. Over the weekend, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan predicted a record turnout of 322,000 votes.
Such a turnout would almost certainly benefit Haley, as it would mean independent (or undeclared) and moderate voters turned out in droves.
According to the CNN poll, Haley is backed by 71% of undeclared voters, 58% among voters who consider themselves moderate, and leads Trump 50% to 38% among voters with college degrees.
Trump, however, holds a commanding lead in the CNN survey among registered Republicans at 67%, 71% of conservatives, and 55% of voters without college degrees.
Haley herself was fighting to the end. Popular New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu has joined her at every campaign stop and in Exeter on Saturday, she held a rally at which popular TV Judge, Judy "Judge Judy" Sheindlin, delivered a fighting speech on her behalf.
Whatever the outcome in New Hampshire, it is sure to be a defining event in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
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