Democrats await results in New Hampshire primary as polls wind down
The polls are winding down in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary, and the first results will soon be released.
Sen. Bernie Sanders is fighting for front-runner status. The party is hoping the primary will bring some clarity to a presidential nomination fight that has so far been marred by confusion and doubt.
But for voters in the Granite State, who wins the presidential nomination is less important than their ultimate goal: ousting U.S. President Donald Trump from the White House.
In an exit poll conducted by Edison Research on Tuesday, most of the voters participating said they will vote for the Democratic nominee “regardless of who it is.”
Edison, which compiles exit polls and live election results for media organizations including ABC News, CBS News, CNN, NBC News and Reuters, found that eight in 10 primary voters will support the party candidate in a run against Republican Trump in the Nov. 3 election.
Eight in 10 also said they were “angry” with the Trump administration, and six in 10 said they were largely backing a candidate who they thought could deprive Trump of a second term.
Here are some highlights from the exit poll based on interviews with 1,947 voters who participated in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary:
- One in 10 said they are participating in a primary for the first time. The lack of first-time voters suggests that turnout at the state’s nominating contest may not surpass what it was in 2016.
- Two in 10 said Trump’s impeachment by the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives likely has “helped” his chances of getting re-elected. The Republican-majority U.S. Senate acquitted the president, allowing him to stay in office. Another two in 10 said it likely hurt his chances and six out of 10 said it made no difference in Trump’s chances of winning re-election.
- Three out of four said that age was not an important factor for them when deciding which candidate to support. The Democratic field includes four candidates who are in their 70s: former Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Bloomberg News founder Michael Bloomberg. One contender, former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, is 38, just three years over the required minimum age to run for U.S. president.
Edison, a Somerville, NJ-based exit polling firm, has been providing election-day poll data to a consortium of news organizations through the National Election Pool since 2004.