New Hampshire primary 2024: Trump projected to win, Haley vows to fight on

Trump and Biden had strong showings in the first-in-the-nation primary.

Former President Donald Trump will win the 2024 New Hampshire GOP primary, ABC News projects. As of 10 p.m. Eastern, Trump was ahead by less than 10 percentage points. While that represents a slight overperformance of polling for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, even a close loss is a big hit to her prospects, as she had staked her campaign on a strong performance in the Granite State. Haley spoke shortly after the projection to emphasize that "this race is far from over," while Trump (and his allies) amped up calls for her to drop out.

ABC News has also projected that President Joe Biden will win the Granite State's Democratic primary. A comfortable write-in victory for him despite not even being on the ballot is a good sign for the incumbent.


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Not all nominees win New Hampshire

Worth remembering that in 2020, the person who ultimately won the Democratic primary finished ... checks notes ... fifth in New Hampshire.

—Dan Hopkins, 538 contributor


Can polls measure electability 10 months out?

In her speech, Haley mentioned polling showing her beating Joe Biden while Trump does not. Can you trust those findings? When I analyzed the same question in 2016, I found that voters who said they'd back one candidate but not another during the primary often mean it during the general.

—Dan Hopkins, 538 contributor


Answer: Reasonable for Haley to play for time

This race is unprecedented in recent history, with a twice-impeached president seeking to return to the White House. Given that, and given that so many delegates are still outstanding, I can see why Haley wouldn't want to throw in the towel quite as quickly as a candidate might in prior years.

—Dan Hopkins, 538 contributor


Answer: Haley has some time to decide

I agree with Geoffrey on this one. While she claims to be in it for the long haul, the truth is that Haley has plenty of time to think about her decision. With a month till South Carolina votes, she can take a beat to see if the polls change or the money dries up. If she finds her position deteriorating, there's always time to make an exit before South Carolina starts voting, and I don't know that there would be much difference, other than possibly some short-term embarrassment, between dropping out now or next week.
—Mary Radcliffe, 538


Welcome to 538's New Hampshire primary live blog!

It's been only eight days since Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses last Monday, but a lot has happened since then. On the night of the caucuses, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the race and endorsed former President Donald Trump, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed suit on Sunday. With former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson also leaving the race last week, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is Trump's last major competitor standing.

And everyone has their eyes on New Hampshire as potentially the only state where Trump has a realistic chance of losing. Haley has invested heavily in New Hampshire and has been suggesting since early December that today's race would be the start of a competitive two-person primary between her and Trump. She's got her two-person race, but whether it will be remotely competitive remains to be seen. Trump has only continued to consolidate party support since his Iowa victory, and anything less than a convincing win for him would be surprising.

So when might we know? First polls will close tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern, and last polls will close at 8 p.m., which is the earliest time we could have a race projection. But as we did last week (when Trump's victory was projected only 30 minutes after caucuses had begun), we will of course be sticking around no matter what happens to see how each candidate does across the state and discuss what it could mean for the rest of 2024.

And that's not all! Granite State Democrats also have a primary today, and it's a weird one — New Hampshire is violating Democratic primary calendar rules by holding it so early. As a result, President Joe Biden isn't campaigning or even on the ballot, but his competitors, Rep. Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson, are. While Biden isn't expected to face serious competition for the actual nomination, his margin of victory today as a write-in candidate could be one early sign of Democrats' grassroots enthusiasm for the incumbent.

Bookmark this page for updates and analysis throughout the night!

—Tia Yang, 538