New Hampshire primary continues trend set by Iowa

It’s primary season, and that means that from now on my columns will mostly be reporting on each state’s results. While I know that this is information that can be found through a quick Google search, I hope to also draw comparisons from throughout the entire election process and insert my own opinion. 

The New Hampshire primary Jan.11 had a similar outcome to the Iowa caucus, which occurred a week prior. In both primaries, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg placed within a percentage point of each other in the top two. However, the second time, they switched in order. In the Iowa caucus, Buttigieg took the lead, but in New Hampshire, Sanders reclaimed his front-runner status. 

Buttigieg’s successes in both polls were surprising to say the least. Prior to the Iowa caucus, Buttigieg was polling at 6.4 percent nationally. After New Hampshire, he currently sits at 10.6 percent. Amy Klobuchar also had a similar rise in popularity — although, nowhere near as successful as Buttigieg. In Iowa, she placed fourth and in New Hampshire, she finished in third place with a striking 58,796 votes. 

Another surprising result from both primaries is just how terrible Joe Biden is doing. In Iowa, he placed fourth, and in New Hampshire, he dropped down to fifth. Following the results of the Iowa caucus, the former front-runner notably sunk to second place in the national polls. Although Biden stated that he did not expect to do well in either state’s primaries, these results have only infused the growing national distrust in the candidate. 

On the Republican side, Donald Trump polled at 88.6 percent in New Hampshire. He gained 22 delegates and 129,696 votes. Bill Weld, the only Republican candidate left to challenge Trump, polled at only 9.1 percent and garnered 13,787 votes. While not very impressive, this is much better than Weld’s results in Iowa, where he polled at 1.1 percent. It seems evident now that there is no one running on the Republican ticket who will be able to beat Trump. 

The next primary will be released Feb. 22 from the Nevada Democratic caucuses. Additionally, on Tuesday, Texas’ early voting for the March. 3 primaries will begin. 

Thanks for reading, and check back next week for a column on the results of the Nevada primary.