70% Of Haley’s New Hampshire Voters Were Not Registered Republicans

A CNN exit poll during Tuesday’s pivotal New Hampshire primary revealed why Nikki Haley is not a serious threat to former President Donald Trump. A staggering 70% of voters who supported the former South Carolina governor were not registered Republicans. 

The state has notoriously loose requirements for its primaries. Unaffiliated voters who are not registered with either major party are allowed to participate in New Hampshire primary elections.

This means that moderate independents and leftists may “cross over” and attempt to influence the results for the party they oppose. In other words, liberals likely took the opportunity to cast a vote in opposition to Trump. 

This will not be the case in pending GOP primaries and caucuses, meaning Haley will have to close the gap with the frontrunner with actual registered Republicans. That will almost certainly not happen.

And even with the considerable turnout from the other side to show opposition to Trump, the former president took a double digit victory. The Associated Press called the race for him within three minutes of the end of primary voting.

For the second straight contest, Trump set a historical record in his victory. He won by the largest margin ever among GOP candidates in Iowa before securing the most votes tallied in a New Hampshire primary.

Trump also became the first presidential candidate to score successive victories in Iowa and New Hampshire since 1976. 

Other numbers pointed to the sheer domination of Trump among the Republican faithful. The former president raced past Haley with registered GOP voters by an astounding 42 points.

As could be expected, political moderates favored Haley by 24 points. However, voters who described themselves as “somewhat conservative” went for Trump by the identical margin.

Then the results get more telling.

Voters who consider themselves “very conservative” chose Trump by an overwhelming 62-point margin.

Haley’s support came largely from those outside of rank-and-file Republicans. No more evidence is needed than to note that 52% of voters who chose the former governor went for Biden in the 2020 presidential election, while only 32% cast their ballots for Trump.