As the race for the Republican nomination heats up, Donald Trump’s popularity continues to gain momentum as his nearest challengers continue to falter. Since the start of this election cycle for Republican voters with the Iowa caucuses, Trump’s opponents have begun to show their frailties in gaining the support of a wider demographic of voters desperately attached to the former president. This is despite his 91 charges in four different criminal trials, and just recently, having been found liable for defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll after he continued to attack her publicly when she accused him of rape.
The Iowa caucus kicked off this election cycle for Republican voters in the Hawkeye State, with all registered Republicans in the state eligible to cast their ballots. As expected by many experts and political analysts, Trump cruised to an easy victory in the caucuses, winning by over 30,000 votes ahead of second place Ron DeSantis, and taking exactly half of the 40 delegates available to him in the election. He won all but one county in the state, which he lost to Nikki Haley in Johnson County by one vote, illustrating just how tall an order it is for his competitors to gain any sort of momentum in this race. The former President’s domineering display in the caucuses sent his nearest competitor, DeSantis, out of the race, leaving him in a two-horse race with Haley in the New Hampshire primary.
The Granite State also sprung no surprises in their highly anticipated first-in-the-nation primary election, with observers looking to see whether or not Haley could truly trouble Trump’s path to the nomination. Yet again, Trump took home the victory, wrapping it up within hours of the first votes being cast. The leading Republican candidate received a very impressive 54% of the vote, with Haley getting just 43%, continuing to demonstrate the tall order she continues to face in her long-shot bid for the presidency. All hope is not yet lost for the former governor of South Carolina, as she did win various counties around some of New Hampshire’s largest cities, including Concord, Manchester, and Nashua. This will give her and her campaign team a glimmer of hope for their bid for the White House.
Many remain optimistic about Haley’s chances in the presidential race. As she prepares for a do-or-die scenario in her home state, a defeat by a sizable margin would certainly seal the deal for the 45th president. Her inability to attract voters from Trump’s voting bloc remains her biggest obstacle, with her electorate too heavily reliant on independent voters and registered Democrats doing their best to stunt Trump’s progress. As Americans begin to grasp a glimpse of what a second Trump term will look like, the situation has become increasingly dire for Haley to resurrect an unlikely bid to become the first female president of the United States.
