The three most important words in American politics in 2024: “Republicans like Trump.”
The fact was on display yet again in the First in the Nation primary on Tuesday when GOP voters handed former President Donald Trump a double-digit win — and 55 percent of the vote — over former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Trump’s win makes him the first person to win the primary three times, a fact he celebrated from onstage during his victory speech in Nashua Tuesday night.
“You know we won New Hampshire three times. This is very special to me,” Trump told the crowd. (New Hampshire gave Trump his first-ever election victory in 2016.)
And he’s also the first Republican to win both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary since then-President Geralf Ford in 1976 — both with more than 50 percent of the vote, too.
Trump received more than 170,000 votes from Granite Staters, 70,000 more than in his 2016 victory. It’s also the highest total since Bernie Sanders won
According to exit polls, only a third of Tuesday’s GOP primary voters considered themselves “MAGA,” but Trump got 55 percent of the total vote. And about 60 percent of the people who turned out on Tuesday said they would be “satisfied” to see Trump as the nominee.
“There is no longer any dispute as to whether the New Hampshire GOP is with Donald Trump, now and this fall,” said veteran political strategist Tom Rath.
