Trump, Under Criminal Prosecution For His Coup Attempt, Wins New Hampshire Anyway

CONCORD, N.H. ― Despite facing both federal and Georgia state prosecutions related to his coup attempt, Donald Trump nevertheless beat Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, although by a much narrower margin that recent polls had suggested.

The former president had been leading Haley, his own United Nations ambassador, by 16-18 points in the most recent polling. Exit poll results and early returns Tuesday evening indicate that the final margin will be considerably smaller.

Haley has for days insisted she would continue her campaign into South Carolina, where she was twice elected governor, regardless of the outcome in New Hampshire. Indeed, her staff has already said she will hold a rally in Charleston Wednesday night.

For Trump though, even a narrower-than-expected win is still a win, his second straight since the GOP primary contests began eight days ago in the Iowa caucuses. Trump finished 30 points ahead of both Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who a year earlier was beating Trump in both national and early state polls.

New Hampshire was the one state where Haley seemed competitive with Trump. In the next major contest, the primary in her home state of South Carolina, she trails Trump by an average 37 points. Trump also enjoys a massive lead in national polls, which will likely translate into big wins on Super Tuesday’s 16 primaries and caucuses across the country on March 5.

Both of those polling leads, however, could shrink based on New Hampshire’s result.

The Super Tuesday elections come one day after the scheduled start of his trial in Washington on four felony charges related to his words and actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of his followers designed to coerce