More than one-third of Republican voters who took part in the New Hampshire primary said they would not support former President Donald Trump if he becomes the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee, according to a poll.
A Fox News voter analysis survey of nearly 2,000 New Hampshire Republican primary voters showed that 35 percent said they would be dissatisfied enough if Trump goes on to clinch the nomination as expected that they would not vote for him in November’s general election.
Trump won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday with 54 percent of the vote, beating Nikki Haley by 11 points. The Granite State was seen as a chance for Haley to pose a serious challenge to Trump as it is considered more moderate.
However, Trump was able to win after getting strong support from his MAGA base as well as conservatives. While his numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire suggest he will easily win the nomination, the Fox News poll is the latest suggestion that Trump may struggle to win over enough moderates to beat President Joe Biden in November.
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The poll also found that 52 percent of Haley’s supporters in New Hampshire voted for Biden in 2020, with no guarantee they will later switch allegiances to Trump if he is on the general election ballot.
Just over half (53 percent) of primary voters in New Hampshire would be satisfied with Trump as the GOP nominee, with 11 percent saying they would be dissatisfied with Trump as the party’s next Republican candidate but would vote for him anyway.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign team via email for comment.
One factor that Trump may take into consideration when looking at the Fox poll is that New Hampshire is not considered a swing state, having voted for only one Republican presidential candidate in the past four decades, with Biden beating Trump by seven points in 2020.
However, the results could be an issue for Trump if they can be applied nationwide, as well as taking into account how the potentially key demographic of independent voters in New Hampshire overwhelmingly backed Haley over Trump.
Another New Hampshire exit poll from Reuters found that around 35 percent of those who took part in Tuesday’s primary considered themselves moderates or liberals, of which only about one in five backed Trump.
“Trump’s coalition is static and predictable,” Arizona-based Republican strategist Chuck Coughlin told Reuters. “His base is too small to win a presidential election.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.