Republican presidential candidates descend on New Hampshire one week before primary
ATKINSON, NH - Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis descended upon New Hampshire one week before the first-in-the-nation primary. All three candidates held events across New Hampshire on Tuesday night.
Following Trump's decisive victory in a sub-freezing Iowa on Monday night, a long line of his supporters waited hours in the snow outside of Atkinson Country Club to get inside to hear the former president speak.
"[Trump] has tenacity like no one else and it's really inspiring to so many people who feel left behind by the political establishment," his press secretary Karoline Leavitt told WBZ. "Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley can fight for second place all day long but you're still in second and third place. We need to rally behind the eventual nominee and it's very clear and it has been for months that that is President Trump."
Polls so far have agreed. According to Real Clear Politics, Trump has beat any other candidate by double digits in most polls leading up to the primaries.
However, after Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the race during the Iowa caucuses, a new poll by the American Research Group showed Nikki Haley neck in neck with Trump - with both candidates polling at 40%.
Political experts say New Hampshire's results aren't necessarily predicted by Iowa's. "If there is a state where somebody other than Trump is going to do well, it's probably going to be here, and I so I think that makes New Hampshire something of a do or die state for both Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis," said Chris Galdieri, a political science professor at St. Anselm College.
The New Hampshire primary takes place on January 23rd. There was an ABC News Republican debate scheduled for Thursday, but on Tuesday Nikki Haley dropped out, saying she wouldn't go to another debate unless President Trump was present as well.
Trump has not attended a single televised debate this election season so far.