Donald Trump’s key weakness exposed in New Hampshire primary vote
New Hampshire voters with high incomes and college degrees tended to support Ms Haley over Mr Trump, polls show
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump may have resoundingly won the New Hampshire primary, but the race’s exit polls revealed demographic weak spots in his voter appeal.
Mr Trump defeated Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire Republican primary by an 11-point margin. Ever since he jumped into the race, Mr Trump has maintained a sizable lead among his GOP competitors. His recent victories in Iowa and New Hampshire have underscored his popularity among Republicans, but they have also uncovered some weaknesses.
The former president didn’t fare particularly well with white voters with a college degree, according to a survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The survey indicated that 61 per cent of white Republican voters with a college degree voted for Ms Haley on Tuesday, while 37 per cent voted for Mr Trump.
CBS News exit polls also indicated that independent voters in the Granite State opted to support Ms Haley.
Roughly 60 per cent of GOP primary voters in the state who identified as independents supported Ms Haley, compared to 38 per cent who supported Mr Trump.
Women voters also were more split about which candidate to support. Mr Trump garnered 50 per cent of women voters in New Hampshire while Ms Haley garnered 48 per cent, according to the Washington Post’s exit polls.
The same polls showed that Ms Haley also appeared to attract higher-earning voters. Half of voters who reported a household income of at least $100,000 supported Ms Haley, compared to 47 per cent who supported Mr Trump. By contrast, 66 per cent of voters who reported a household income of less than $50,000 strongly favoured Mr Trump.
Despite losing the first-in-the-nation primary, Ms Haley reassured the crowd on Tuesday night that she planned to stay in the race.
Florida Gov Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out after coming in second and fourth place, respectively, in the Iowa caucuses. Both have endorsed Mr Trump for president.
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