A majority of Republican voters in the First-in-the-Nation primary state say they’ll back Donald Trump if he chooses to run again in 2024. And 70 percent of New Hampshire Republicans don’t believe Joe Biden is the legitimate winner of the 2020 race.
Those are the findings of a new poll from New Hampshire Journal.
The poll of 624 registered Republicans found 56 percent of GOP primary voters would support President Trump to once again top the GOP ticket, with the rest of the field in single digits. Without Trump in the race, Vice President Mike Pence tops the rankings at 24.5 percent, followed by Donald Trump, Jr. (13.6 percent), former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (11.7) and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (10.4).
Trailing behind are South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and Fox News TV personality Tucker Carlson.
“Like him or not, Donald Trump remains the single most significant force in American politics, more so now as he prepares to leave office than he was as president,” says GOP consultant Patrick Griffin. “His will be the most unconventional — and likely most high profile — post-presidency in American history. His ability to critique and confound Joe Biden will be formidable and frustrating.”
“President Trump has the support of a majority of registered Republicans in New Hampshire, perhaps the most important primary state for GOP candidates,” adds pollster Jonathan Klingler, “His support is strongest among Republicans without a college degree. In fact, among Republicans with a bachelor’s degree or higher, Trump is actually underwater. However, his support is steady across gender and racial lines.”
Mitt Romney’s numbers are a mirror image of Trump’s. His support among Republicans with a high school degree or less is just 2.6 percent, but has the support of 13.5 percent of those with a graduate degree.
The poll found a similar educational divide on the 2020 legitimacy question.
“Education is a big factor in explaining responses across the board, as Republicans with less education are also more likely to believe the election was illegitimate,” notes Klingler. More than 70 percent of Granite State Republicans say Biden’s election was not legit, and just 21 percent trust the results. Nearly 80 percent of NH Republicans without college degrees say the election was rigged.
One of those Republicans is Rep. Fred Doucette, New Hampshire co-chair of the Trump 2020 campaign.
“I would agree with the majority in the poll,” he told InsideSources. “There remain too many unanswered questions to call the presidential election legitimate. The American people are entitled to an honest and transparent election and the President is entitled to have this process play out.”
GOP distrust in the presidential election isn’t exclusive to New Hampshire. A new national Gallup poll released Monday found just 11 percent of Republicans believe the voting process worked “well” or “very well,” while 88 percent say it worked “not too well” or “not well at all.”
A majority of Americans, 55 percent, disagree.
N.H. Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley says it’s time for Republicans to face the facts. “The healing of America post-Trump chaos will be more challenging if Republicans continue to refuse to live in a reality-based world. At some point, they need to shake off the Trump nonsense in order for this country to move into a better future. Otherwise, it will be nearly impossible.”
Interestingly, while Republicans have doubts about the process, they want their party to set aside partisanship when it comes to the pandemic.
“We found 70 percent of Republicans believe the election was illegitimate, but 68 percent still Republicans to work with Biden to confront COVID,” Klingler said. “That includes 56 percent of those who believe the election was illegitimate.”
On the issue of post-election cooperation, Doucette agrees. “Republican members of Congress should absolutely work with the Biden administration to fight COVID. President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed and his well-tuned plan is in place and should be followed through with. The final defeat of this pandemic has been laid at the feet of the Biden administration.”
