Former President Donald Trump’s victory in New Hampshire’s Republican primary election Tuesday was propelled by strong support from young voters, according to exit polling.
Trump defeated former United Nations Ambassador and ex-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who remains the only other high-profile Republican in the race. Although Haley fell short of the majority of votes, she maintained an optimistic tone as she blocked a Trump landslide in the Granite State and vowed to stay in the race.
Young Republican voters made up Trump’s strongest age group during the primary, according to CNN’s exit poll of New Hampshire voters. Sixty percent of voters age 18 to 29 supported Trump, while only 36 percent backed Haley, the exit poll found. However, they comprised only 9 percent of the electorate.
Trump received backing from 56 percent of voters age 30 to 44, while Haley garnered 43 percent. Fifty-five percent of voters age 45 to 64 chose Trump, compared to 44 percent for Haley.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
Voters at least 65 years old were the most evenly split in New Hampshire, with 51 percent supporting Trump compared to 47 percent for Haley.
Newsweek reached out to Trump and Haley’s campaigns for comment via email late Tuesday night.
Haley notably raised concerns about both Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden’s ages in the final stretch of the New Hampshire campaign, at times sparking backlash from some of her critics.
“The concern I have is—I’m not saying anything derogatory—but when you’re dealing with the pressures of the presidency, we can’t have someone else that we question whether they’re mentally fit to do this. We can’t,” she said at an event in Keene, New Hampshire, on Friday, reported NBC News.
Haley sought to convince New Hampshire voters she is a more electable alternative to Trump, pointing to several polls showing her leading Biden by a wider margin than Trump would in hypothetical general matchups. While Trump has sought to turn out his core base of supporters, Haley has appealed to more traditional conservatives and independent voters.
Trump, however, has attacked her record as insufficiently conservative, accusing her of being a “RINO,” the derisive acronym for “Republican in name only.”
“Nikki came in a distant THIRD! She said she would never run against me, ‘he was a great President,’ and she should have followed her own advice. Now she’s stuck with WEAK POLICIES, and a VERY STRONG MAGA BASE, and there’s just nothing she can do!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post earlier this month after the Iowa caucuses.
In the Iowa contest, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won the 17-29 age group with 30 percent of the vote. Haley placed second with 25 percent of those voters, while Trump received only 22 percent, according to CNN’s Iowa exit poll.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy won 21 percent of the 17-29 age group in Iowa. DeSantis and Ramaswamy have both dropped out of the race, endorsing Trump.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.