Jan 242 min read

US Election Primary: New Hampshire sends Shockwaves

Updated: Jan 28

What is a Primary Election? The Primary is a vote before the main election where each party decides their leader who will face of against the oppositions leader in the final election of November, deciding the new President, for example Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden in 2020. The Primary starts in New Hampshire and the candidates battle out in every state until a final winner is elected. In the Republican side, all candidates have suspended their campaigns except the 'America First' Donald J Trump and the Neo-conservative Nikki Haley, with individuals like Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy pledging their support for Trump and only Christ Christie siding with Nikki Haley. On the Democratic side, Joe Biden stands as the almost unopposed party leader. Due to the DNC not organizing any debates, basically not giving audience to any other party members to oppose Biden, people like Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson are forced to campaign through more traditional methods like events, social media or door-to-door campaigning.

Donald Trump's Victory Rally in NH with Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott

New Hampshire Shock With the New Hampshire vote coming to end, the results are a clear indication of what 2024 is going to look like politically for the USA. With Nikki Haley failing to achieve her victory in NH after spending 31,000,000$ in campaigning the Republican party prepares for a Trump led election this year. Biden is still leading strongly in New Hampshire, a state he had lost in 2020. With NH having voted democratic in every 21st century election, it would have been expected that the Democratic primary would have gained a over 200,000 voters like in the 2020 primary where over 250,000 citizens voted in the Democratic primary. However, with less than 100,000 voters turning up for the Democrats in 2024, this raises the question, what going? There are 2 answers for question: 1. A large amount of democrat voters switched party affiliation from Democrat to independent/unregistered right before the primary in an attempt to dethrone Trump which explains the massive turnover of over 280,000 in 2024, much more than the 150,000 in 2020. However, the large Republican turnover can also be accounted due to the polarization of the candidates and the high stake nature of this election. 2. This possibly also shows the lack of enthusiasm of Democratic voters who are voting for the historically unpopular Biden who's poll approval rating of 38% and disapproval rating of 55%, according to the New York Times.