The victory in New Hampshire is considered an important boost for Trump on the White House race, showing his overwhelming strength in the Republican Party.
US media identified former President Donald Trump as the winner of the Republican primary election in New Hampshire on January 23. Preliminary vote counts showed that Mr. Trump won 54.7% of the votes, while former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had 43.6% of the votes.
"If we don't win, I think America is over," Trump said in his victory speech, calling it a "bad night" for Haley and predicting an easy win for his campaign in South Carolina, the next big battleground in the Republican primary.
"I congratulate Donald Trump on his victory tonight. He deserves it and I want to acknowledge it," Haley told supporters in New Hampshire, but added that the Republican primary race was "far from over."
Former US President Donald Trump at an event to monitor the primary election results in New Hampshire on the evening of January 23. Photo: AFP
According to experts, the above results are a dangerous step backward for Ms. Haley, who invested significant time and financial resources in the New Hampshire primary election.
She is the last major challenger to Mr Trump in the race for the Republican nomination after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his withdrawal last weekend. In an effort to undermine the former president, Haley has stepped up her criticism of him, questioning his mental abilities and positioning herself as a candidate who can unite the party and usher in generational change.
But the message failed to resonate. Trump can now boast of being the first Republican presidential candidate to win both the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries since 1976, when the two states opened the election season.
Haley's loss in New Hampshire raises questions about how long she can continue in the race. Before the vote, Haley was under pressure from donors to make a strong showing in the state.
Trump's victory will clearly affect Haley's staying power and how far donors will be willing to go with her.
David Axelrod, senior political commentator from CNN , said Haley will face a difficult road ahead, especially in her home state of South Carolina next month.
"If I were Donald Trump tonight, I would take her off the table," he said. "I would congratulate Haley and all the other candidates who have entered the race. And I would say it's time to move on to the more important fight with President Joe Biden."
Observers consider Trump's two consecutive victories in the primary round as a prominent sign that the Republican Party is quickly rallying around the former president to make him the party's candidate for the third consecutive presidential election. After a resounding victory in Iowa, Trump is no different from "a tiger with wings" with his victory in New Hampshire.
"With overwhelming and relatively easy results in both early states, Trump is demonstrating his ability to firmly unite factions in the Republican Party behind him," commented commentators Holly Ramer, Will Weissert and Jill Colvin from the AP news agency.
Trump has received support from conservative evangelicals, who have a strong presence in Iowa, and from more moderate voters in New Hampshire, a trend that is expected to continue as the primaries roll on in other states.
New Hampshire voters support Trump unconditionally
Experts say Trump’s strong position in the past two races is remarkable, given that he is facing 91 indictments on a variety of issues, from allegations of trying to overturn the 2020 election results to mishandling classified documents to arranging a “hush money” payment to a porn actress. Trump is also the first US president to be impeached twice during his term.
But Trump has been able to turn his weakness into an advantage among Republican voters. The former president has argued that his unprecedented prosecutions show that the Justice Department is being “politicized,” though there is no evidence that Justice Department officials, President Biden, or anyone else in the White House have pushed for it.
Trump has repeatedly told his supporters that he is facing prosecution on their behalf, an argument that appears to have further cemented his relationship with Republican voters.
According to the results of the AP news agency poll, Trump won in small towns and rural communities in New Hampshire, where about two-thirds of the people participating in the primary election live.
He won about 70% of the vote from conservative Republicans. The former US president was also supported by Republicans who prioritized immigration and the economy in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
Among New Hampshire voters who consider immigration a top priority, about three-quarters support Trump. Primary voters in the state agree with him on curbing immigration and building a wall along the US-Mexico border. About 50% of voters who are concerned about the economy voted for Trump.
Christopher Galdieri, a professor at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, said the results were the clearest evidence yet that Mr Trump's dominance of the Republican Party remains "rock solid".
"The Republican Party is so attached to Donald Trump. They're so attached that they think you have to be a good Trump supporter to be a good Republican. It's really hard for them to get away from that," Galdieri said.
Vu Hoang (According to AP, Reuters, AFP, Al Jazeera )
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