Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Tuesday claimed victory in the New Hampshire primary, the second Democratic contest of the 2020 election.
All eyes were on New Hampshire after last week's chaotic Iowa caucuses, where problems with the app used for reporting results delayed the outcome for days.
Read below for the latest updates or see the full results here.
Highlights from the New Hampshire primary:
- Deval Patrick ends his presidential bid, joining Michael Bennet and Andrew Yang.
- DNC Chair Perez praises turnout, while Yang doesn't rule out a future run.
- What's happened to Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden?
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NBC News Exit Poll: Recent debate was a major factor in support for Klobuchar, Buttigieg and Sanders
Half of New Hampshire Democratic primary voters waited until the final days of the campaign to settle on a candidate, and last Friday night’s debate played a major role in helping many of them come to their decision, according to the NBC News Exit Poll. Fifteen percent of Democratic primary voters said the debate was the most important factor in their vote, and another 34 percent said it was among several important factors.
Among those who decided in the last few days, 28 percent picked Pete Buttigieg, 23 percent chose Amy Klobuchar and 16 percent voted for Bernie Sanders.
Klobuchar seemed to get a particular bump from her debate performance. Among those who said that the debate was an important factor in their final decision, the breakdown was 30 percent for Klobuchar, 22 percent for Buttigieg and 20 percent Sanders.
NBC News Exit Poll: Sanders leads among voters who care more about issues than beating Trump
Bernie Sanders is the clear favorite among New Hampshire Democratic primary voters who are prioritizing a candidate with whom they agree on major issues, according to results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
But among the majority who care more about beating President Donald Trump than nominating a candidate who matches their views, the vote is split more evenly among Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Sanders. As polls closed, NBC News characterized the race as too early to call, with these three candidates vying for first place and Sanders leading.
Roughly 6 in 10 New Hampshire Democrats prioritize nominating a candidate who can beat Donald Trump; among these voters, Buttigieg leads, followed by Klobuchar and Sanders.
About a third of Granite State Democrats prefer a candidate who shares their views on major issues. Support for Sanders is strongest among this group, followed by Buttigieg and Klobuchar.
Andrew Yang drops out of presidential race
Andrew Yang, a New York businessman whose unusual presidential campaign rose to prominence with a plan to give Americans $1,000 a month, is dropping out of the Democratic race.
Initially seen as a longshot candidate, Yang used a savvy social media strategy to garner legions of devoted followers who referred to themselves as the "Yang Gang."
A lawyer turned entrepreneur and author of a book called "The War on Normal People," Yang appealed to voters by warning of the ills of technology— including automation and artificial intelligence. Yang's plan for a universal basic income— the $1,000 a month check that he dubbed the "Freedom Dividend"— served as a bedrock for his larger vision for fixing a society deeply sickened by capitalism.
"Democrats still have not asked themselves the hard questions as to how Donald Trump won in 2016," Yang said in December. The party is acting like "Trump is the cause of all our problems. He’s a symptom and we need to cure the underlying disease."
Paul Ryan says he thinks Biden could beat Trump, but unlikely to win nomination
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that of the Democratic presidential candidates, he thinks former Vice President Joe Biden would have the best chance to beat President Donald Trump in November, but the Wisconsin Republican predicted Biden would lose the nomination fight to a progressive candidate, CNBC's Natasha Turak reported Tuesday.
“I’d say he’s probably the most likely one to have a chance at beating Donald Trump, but I don’t see Joe getting the nomination, I just don’t see him getting there. I think it’s going be one of these progressives, which I think will be much easier to beat,” Ryan told CNBC at the annual Milken Conference in Abu Dhabi.
The former Wisconsin congressman and vice-presidential candidate said the eventual nominee would have to battle with Trump over the key states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and “I think Joe is probably the hardest to beat, because it’s going to come down to the suburban (voter), it’s going to be the suburbanite that’ll basically be the difference-maker."
Those voters, whom he described as typically right-leaning, white collar workers and first-generation Republicans, "like Trump the idea, they like Trump the disruption — they don’t necessarily like the personality and the noise and the tweets that come with it,” Ryan told CNBC.
“So they’ll be tempted to vote for what they think is a safe moderate — and I think Joe Biden, it’s all relative, will fall into that category, and is the likeliest to be able to win that voter,” but only if he were able to win the nomination, Ryan said.
NBC News Exit Poll: Most New Hampshire Democrats say nominee's gender doesn't matter in race against Trump
When asked whether a female Democratic presidential nominee would be a plus or a minus in the general election battle against President Donald Trump, most New Hampshire primary voters say it doesn’t matter either way.
According to the NBC News Exit Poll, 58 percent of Democratic voters said nominating a woman would make no difference in the party's effort to defeat Trump. Among the remainder, though, more say a female nominee would have a harder time, rather than an easier time, beating Trump.
Women voters (34 percent) are more likely than men (26 percent) to believe that nominating a woman would actually make it harder for the Democrat to win in November.
NBC News Exit Poll: Young New Hampshire Democrats support 'Medicare for All,' free public college
The youngest generation of Democratic Party voters is staking out strongly progressive positions on a wide range of issues — including health care, education and guns — according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll in Tuesday's New Hampshire presidential primary.
Democratic voters ages 18 to 29 resoundingly embrace the idea of making tuition free at public colleges and universities. They strongly agree that stricter gun control laws would reduce gun violence in the U.S. And they express solid support for the “Medicare for All” proposal to replace private health insurance with a single government plan for everyone.
Nearly a third of young Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire describe themselves as “very liberal.”
NBC News Exit Poll: LGBT voters are 7 percent of New Hampshire primary voters
The NBC News Exit Poll found that 7 percent of New Hampshire primary voters are members of the LGBT community.
For comparison, in the nationwide 2018 midterm elections, 6 percent of the electorate was LGBTQ and 82 percent of them voted for Democrats, according to a NBC News exit poll at that time. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer voters are a significant bloc of potential support for any Democratic political hopeful since nearly 9 million are registered to vote, according to an October study from UCLA’s Williams Institute.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, Nevada, which hosts its caucuses on Feb. 22, has the second-highest state per-capita rate of LGBTQ residents at 5.5 percent. Just six other states — California, Oregon, Washington, New York, Massachusetts and Vermont — all have greater than 5 percent LGBTQ population. And all of those states have yet to vote.
NBC News Exit Poll: Lower-income N.H. Democrats strongly favor 'Medicare for All'; wealthier Democrats are split
Voters in Tuesday's New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary generally like the idea of “Medicare for All,” but opinions differ along the lines of income, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
The idea of establishing a single government-run health plan runs strong among those with annual family incomes of less than $50,000: 70 percent favor it. But support for the plan slips sharply among Democrats higher up the income ladder. Among those making more than $100,000 per year, opinion on Medicare for All is split, with 47 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed.
NBC News Exit Poll: New Hampshire Democrats disagree on whether some candidates are 'too liberal'
New Hampshire Democratic primary voters find some candidates too liberal and others not liberal enough, according to the NBC News Exit Poll.
The poll found that half of those voting in New Hampshire Tuesday felt that Bernie Sanders is too liberal, and 4 in 10 say the same about Elizabeth Warren. On the other side of the ideological spectrum, 4 in 10 say Joe Biden’s issue positions are not liberal enough, and 2 in 10 say the same about Pete Buttigieg.
In terms of the candidate who seems to be most in line with voters ideologically, Buttigieg comes out on top — 67 percent say his positions on the issues are about right. Less than half say the same for Biden, Warren or Sanders.
NBC News Exit Poll: New Hampshire Democrats divided on return to Obama-era policies
New Hampshire Democratic primary voters are divided on the direction the party should take, according to the NBC News Exit Poll.
Forty percent of Democratic voters want a return to the policies of President Barack Obama, while 38 percent want more liberal policies. And 12 percent would like to see more conservative policies than during Obama’s tenure.
According to the exit poll, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democratic primary voters describe themselves as liberal, which is comparable to prior primaries — slightly higher than in 2008 (56 percent) but slightly lower than in 2016 (68 percent).
NBC News Exit Poll: Moderate Republicans on the decline in New Hampshire GOP primary
Moderate Republicans have staged a disappearing act in New Hampshire's presidential primary, early results from the NBC News Exit Poll show.
Just 19 percent of voters in Tuesday's GOP primary consider themselves moderate or liberal. That’s down sharply from just four years ago, when 29 percent fell into these categories. And it’s a dramatic decline from 2012, when nearly half of those voting in the Republican primary consisted of moderates and liberals.
NBC News Exit Poll: No jump in independents or first-time voters in New Hampshire Democratic primary
There was no jump in independents or first-time voters in Tuesday's New Hampshire Democratic primary, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll.
There was an expectation that the number of independents participating in this year’s Democratic primary might be higher than previous years, since the Republican contest is not competitive. That does not seem to have happened: 43 percent of primary voters report being registered as undeclared on the voter rolls, which is in line with prior Democratic contests when there were also hotly contested Republican races.
The NBC News Exit Poll also found that 12 percent of voters in the New Hampshire Democratic contest are voting in their first presidential primary, down slightly from four years ago.
New Hampshire exit polls: Defeating Trump tops issues for Democratic voters
By a nearly two-to-one margin, New Hampshire voters who cast ballots in Tuesday's Democratic primary said they would rather see a nominee who can beat President Donald Trump in November than one who agrees with them on the issues, according to early data from an NBC News exit poll.
Sixty-two percent of respondents said would rather see a nominee who can beat Trump while 34 percent said that they would prefer one who agrees with them on major issues if they had to choose between the two options.
New Hampshire voters in both parties agree that Trump has emerged from impeachment largely unscathed, the early exit poll data showed.
NBC News Exit Poll: New Hampshire Democratic voters more likely to be female, college graduates
Voters in Tuesday’s New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary are more likely to be female and college graduates than those voting on the Republican side, early results from the NBC News Exit Poll show.
- About a third of GOP primary voters are college graduates, a share that jumps to 55 percent on the Democratic side.
- Women make up 44 percent of those voting in the Republican primary, but they account for 55 percent of those voting in the Democratic primary.
- Compared to Democrats, Republican voters are more than twice as likely to be military veterans.
All of these differences mirror the demographics of Democratic and Republican supporters across the U.S.
Warren campaign outlines post-N.H. path in memo
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign has released a memo that outlines her path after New Hampshire, saying that the road to the Democratic presidential nomination does not rely on “statewide winner-take-all victories.”
In a lengthy memo released Tuesday afternoon, Warren campaign manager Roger Lau laid out the campaign’s strategy going forward, and the flaws in her opponent — something the candidate herself has shied away from on the trail as she makes a “unity” pitch.
The memo relies heavily on the idea that “the early states deliver mixed results for the field” and “no seismic event” shakes up the top three, assuming that the last three viable candidates in the race as of Super Tuesday will be Biden, Sanders and Warren.
“The road to the Democratic nomination is not paved with statewide winner-take-all victories,” Lau wrote in the memo, which was sent to supporters. “This is a district-by-district contest for pledged delegates awarded proportionally.”
“It's not a straightforward narrative captured by glancing at a map, and the process won't be decided by the simple horse race numbers in clickbait headlines. That's never been our focus — our focus is on building a broad coalition to win delegates everywhere,” Lau wrote.
In the latest RealClearPolitics New Hampshire polling average, Warren (with 11 percent), is trailing Sanders (28.7 percent), Buttigieg (21.3 percent) and Klobuchar (11.7 percent.
Lau, nevertheless, goes on to say that, “We're confident in our plan and our path because we know the truth at the heart of the nomination process.”
“No amount of spin and hyperventilation can change the delegate math, and no amount of money can buy a candidate his way back into this race if he can't play for serious delegates on Super Tuesday,” Lau wrote.
Democrats battle for critical New Hampshire vote as polls set to close soon
With polls closing here shortly, Democratic candidates spent the day of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday talking up their candidacies and taking aim at a rival who isn't even on the ballot here — former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Entering primary day, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was comfortably leading in the polls, trailed by former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Behind them was a three-way battle for third place between a surging Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and former Vice President Joe Biden.
The vote came as last week's Iowa caucus results were being contested. Both Sanders and Buttigieg have claimed victory in the Hawkeye State.
NBC News Exit Poll: Nearly half of New Hampshire Democrats decided in last few days
An unusually large number of New Hampshire Democratic primary voters waited until the final days to settle on a candidate.
Early results from the NBC News Exit Poll show that nearly half say they made up their minds in the last few days, which is higher than the share of late deciders in either 2008 or 2016.
Friday night’s debate seemed to play a critical role for many Democratic voters. Sixteen percent said it was the single most important factor in their decision, and another 32 percent said it was one of several important factors.
NBC News Exit Poll: Most New Hampshire Republicans more loyal to Trump than party
More than half of voters in the New Hampshire Republican primary have greater allegiance to President Donald Trump than the Republican Party, according to early results from the NBC News Exit Poll. When asked to choose between the two, 54 percent picked Trump, while nearly 4 in 10 said they feel more loyal to the GOP.
Still, Republican voters in the Granite State resoundingly endorsed Trump's performance as president:
- Nearly 9 in 10 voters in the GOP primary say Trump has kept his campaign promises;
- Nearly 9 in 10 also say they are “enthusiastic” or “satisfied” with the Trump administration;
- About 8 in 10 support building a wall along the entire Mexican border, Trump’s signature policy proposal; and
- Almost all (95 percent) voters in the Republican primary say the national economy is either “excellent” or “good.”
Yang: 'If we had a crystal ball, I definitely would have been hanging out here in New Hampshire'
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang said he regretted spending so much time campaigning in Iowa after their botched caucuses there, and said his time would have been better spent in places like New Hampshire.
“If you had a crystal ball, of course you would have spent less time and energy in Iowa because the muddle coming out of it did not help any of us,” Yang said in an interview with MSNBC's Cal Perry on Tuesday.
“It was a real black eye. So if we had a crystal ball, I definitely would have been hanging out here in New Hampshire or someplace else I was about to vote,” he added.
Yang said that the Democratic primary was like a “playoff,” telling NBC that he needed to beat expectations in New Hampshire Tuesday night.
“It's a little bit like a playoff race where you need to get above the people that are ahead of you in the standings, so we need to climb the ranks," he said. "Right now, we're polling at sixth. We want to get up to fifth, fourth, even third."
Yang, who has built up a loyal following but has failed to break into the top tier of candidates, expressed optimism in the final hours of voting in New Hampshire.
"After tonight's totals come in, we think we'll have a head of steam heading into the next states," he said.
NBC News Exit Poll: New Hampshire Republicans, Democrats agree impeachment hasn’t hurt Trump’s re-election chances
New Hampshire voters in both parties agree that President Donald Trump has emerged from impeachment proceedings largely unscathed, at least when it comes to the 2020 election, early results from the NBC News Exit Poll show.
Less than a quarter of those voting in the Democratic primary said Trump’s impeachment hurt his chances of being re-elected. Most Democrats said impeachment made no difference in Trump’s re-election effort. About two-thirds of GOP voters said impeachment has helped Trump; just 5 percent said it hurt his chances.
Biden says he doesn't regret not moving on to South Carolina sooner
Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday afternoon that he doesn’t regret not skipping ahead to South Carolina earlier where he might perform better than in New Hampshire.
“No, no, no, no,” Biden said when asked whether he regrets not shifting focus to South Carolina sooner. "We gotta win this state in the general election and I think we're gonna be able to do that," he added about New Hampshire.
A few hours earlier, it was announced that the Bidens would travel to South Carolina, one of the upcoming key primary states, Tuesday night as the votes are still being counted in New Hampshire,
“I'm going down on my supporters to get them moving down in South Carolina, do a little events," Biden said about his plan.
He said that he’ll still speak to supporters in New Hampshire electronically, saying that he plans to “fight til the end, til the polls close,” and added, “and so we’re then gonna move on.”
NBC News Exit Poll: Trump is most important factor for New Hampshire Democrats
Democrats in the first-in-the-nation primary named health care as the most important issue in their vote on Tuesday, followed by climate change, income inequality and foreign policy.
The early NBC News Exit Poll finds, though, that more than 60 percent of New Hampshire Democrats would rather see the party nominate a candidate who can beat President Donald Trump in November than a candidate who agrees with them on the major issues.
Warren on Biden leaving for South Carolina: 'He's not here to fight for the votes in New Hampshire'
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Tuesday that former Vice President Joe Biden's decision to leave New Hampshire for South Carolina later in the day "says that he's not here to fight for the votes in New Hampshire."
"Look, I think that this is what democracy is about. We get out here, we talk to voters and we fight for every vote. That's who I am. I am a fighter,” Warren said when asked by NBC's Ali Vitali what message Biden’s early departure sends to New Hampshire voters.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in response to a similar question Tuesday, "All I can say is we'll be here tonight. We have, as you know, been all over the state."
Meanwhile, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., another Democratic presidential contender, was asked on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” about the extraordinary campaign spending by former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg in his presidential campaign.
“Yeah, it's an extraordinary amount of money,” she said. “But I believe that people do not look at Donald Trump and say, 'Can we get someone richer?' I think they want someone different and someone who is going to be able, as I said at the debate, put themselves in their shoes, and that's what I've got in spades."
Bernie Sanders laments billionaires like Bloomberg 'buying' elections
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday took aim at billionaires like Mike Bloomberg who the Vermont senator said are trying to buy elections.
"This is what I think, you know, Mike Bloomberg and anybody else has every right in the world to run for President of the United States. But I got a real problem with multi-billionaires literally buying elections," Sanders told NBC News' anchor Lester Holt in a "Nightly News" interview.
Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City and is worth $60 billion, has skipped the early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire and poured more than $100 million on advertising. He has also built a major ground game across the country with 500 organizers and staff in more than 30 states, including all 14 Super Tuesday states. Billionaire activist Tom Steyer has also used his wealth to fund advertisements and build significant campaign infrastructure.
Sanders has repeatedly said he will build the "strongest grassroots movement in the history of politics" and attacked his rivals for taking contributions from wealthy donors. Sanders gained front-runner status on Monday after a new Quinnipiac University had him leading former Vice President Joe Biden nationally.
Top Biden adviser urges calm: 'Huge amount of hyperventilating out there'
Things will only get worse for Joe Biden before they get better, and his campaign knows it.
"You just have to keep going," said former Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, a Democrat from New Hampshire who is backing Biden. "It's tough, but nobody said this was going to be easy."
The former vice president has already written off Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire, announcing hours after polls opened that he's fleeing the state to spend the evening in South Carolina, where he’s counting on his strength with black voters to redeem his struggling campaign in the state's Feb. 29 primary.
But to get there, he’ll have to suffer through 18 days of misery with no obvious source of reinforcements and plenty of battles left to fight that will determine whether he can regain momentum.
Warren visits with supporters — of Biden
Election Confessions, New Hampshire edition
New Hampshire voters will have their chance to choose a Democratic nominee Tuesday, but some residents have already weighed in on the race — anonymously.
NBC News’ Election Confessions heard from people in the state who chimed in on everything from Joe Biden and Barack Obama’s “bromance” to President Donald Trump’s future.
“May you live long ... in the private sector,” one wrote about Trump. “Why does every Mayor of NYC think they would make a great President?” another wrote about the former candidate Bill de Blasio, one of the two 2020 candidates who have worked that job. “Yang is the first time I've been excited for a candidate ever,” a third wrote.
On Election Confessions, people from across the United States have shared more than 60,000 musings about the candidates, the country and its condition. Here are some of the more notable confessions from New Hampshire.
In New Hampshire, iPads and 1891 ballot boxes
The New Hampshire primary offers a look at just how varied elections systems can be.
In two locations, new electronic poll books are being tested alongside the traditional paper-based poll books. Tom Freda, the moderator for the Londonderry, New Hampshire, polling place, said the new tech, which lets people sign in on iPads, "greatly speeds up the process."
"An old paper checklist, voters had to wait in a line that corresponded with their name. The lists had 800-1,000 names on them," Freda said.
Freda noted that the new system had also been used in local elections.
But election advocates say polling places still need a paper poll book backup, and misconfiguration issues have led to long lines or voters being turned away in some cases.
Other polling locations are holding on to their roots. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said that more than 40 towns are using ballot boxes that date back to 1891.
"There's no way you can hack that," Gardner said.
OPINION: To win New Hampshire, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders need independent voters
Every four years, the nation’s focus turns to the small state of New Hampshire, that I call home, and the first real time that the candidates vying for their parties' nominations will face a vote. As someone who was born and raised in Manchester, I have seen countless primaries firsthand as both a resident and later a campaign staffer, and I have been lucky to meet, shake hands and attend town halls with many presidential hopefuls — something that many New Hampshirites view as part of their civic duty.
New Hampshire has always been a battleground state with its treasure trove of independent voters, and it’s no secret that it is a key focus state for Trump's re-election campaign — he even hosted a rally in Manchester on Monday evening. Meanwhile, while spending close to an estimated $150 million in the state, Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden have spent the last week crisscrossing every nook and cranny in the small state trying to drum up as many votes as possible.
But some Democrats have more to lose in New Hampshire than just a primary.
According to polling from The Boston Globe/WBZ-TV/Suffolk University released Thursday, Sanders (23.6 percent) had only a 1 point lead over Buttigieg (22.6 percent) who was surging after his Iowa showing, while Biden was coming in at only 10.6 percent. A 7 News-Emerson College poll conducted over the weekend similarly shows Sanders and Buttigieg in the lead, with Klobuchar and Warren surprisingly ahead of Biden.
Analysis: The best unused unity argument
All the Democratic candidates are making the case that they can bring their party and the country together. Some focus more on the former and some more on the latter, but both will be needed for one of them to win the presidency.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar likes to point out that she won a lot of counties in her 2018 Senate re-election bid that President Donald Trump also won in her state in 2016. It's not the best comparison because Klobuchar was running against a pretty underwhelming opponent. Her first Senate victory — and the oft-cited fact that she's never lost an election — is probably a better testament to her ability to win a race against a Republican.
But what she hasn't really trotted out is perhaps the most compelling storyline any of the Democrats could tell about unifying the party. While she has critics within her party at home, Klobuchar hasn't been targeted for primary defeat by the left the way that many other senators have. She's been strong across her party in Minnesota — and that's no small feat because it's the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
None of the other presidential candidates comes from a state with a Democratic congressional delegation as ideologically diverse as Klobuchar's, which features conservative Rep. Collin Petersen, who voted against impeaching Trump, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is among the most liberal members of Congress. In her Senate races, Klobuchar has to win backing from farmers along the state's border with the Dakotas, union members in the Lake Superior region, and a diverse mix of voters in the Twin Cities and their suburbs. Minnesota's DFL is a uniquely big-tent version of the Democratic Party, and Klobuchar may start to talk more about it.
'The Conners' sitcom to air live with real-time New Hampshire results
News organizations around the U.S. will be concentrated on New Hampshire tonight — and so will one sitcom.
ABC's "The Conners" will be doing a live episode at 8 p.m. ET that uses the results from the New Hampshire primary as part of the episode.
The show touches on politics-adjacent topics, including the challenges that middle class families face. It was spun off from "Roseanne" after Roseanne Barr was fired over racist remarks.
Few TV shows have tried such a stunt, but a 1997 episode of "ER" comes to mind, which was live and incorporated a playoff game between the Chicago Cubs and the Houston Astros.
Yang greets his supporters
Most voters think Trump will win re-election, new poll finds
Two-thirds of voters believe that President Trump will be re-elected in November, according to a Monmouth University poll released Tuesday. Of those, 27 percent said they think Trump will "definitely" be re-elected, while 39 percent said they feel he will "probably" win again.
The poll also finds that just 11 percent of registered Democrats say their party's eventual nominee will "definitely" beat Trump, while 38 percent said "it is more likely than not" that Trump will win.
In the Democratic primary race, the poll shows a new front-runner, with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leading the field at 26 percent support among Democratic and lean-Democratic voters — up from 23 percent in the last national Monmouth University poll, taken before the Iowa caucuses. Former Vice President Joe Biden fell to 16 percent support in this poll — in January he was at 30 percent.
How New Hampshire votes: Pencils and paper
New Hampshire’s election system is decidedly old school: paper ballots hand-marked by voters.
That’s mostly a good thing, election technology experts told NBC News. After Iowa’s caucuses were thrown off in part due to a faulty smartphone app, election technology is now the focus of national scrutiny.
But like any election system, New Hampshire’s isn’t bulletproof. Aging equipment and a few tweaks to its system for 2020 still present opportunities for confusion or disruption for Tuesday’s vote.
Who's spent the most time in New Hampshire?
5 Things to watch in New Hampshire: Why losers matter as much as winners
Iowa was a mess. Democrats are hoping New Hampshire will provide more clarity.
Tuesday's first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary, which is marking its 100th anniversary, may be more important than it has been in years in deciding the future of the Democratic presidential field, with a number of once-leading candidates teetering on the brink of oblivion and some former no-names gaining steam.
The state is famously unpredictable and can swing faster than polls can capture, especially because independent voters, who outnumber Democrats and Republicans, can vote in the primary.
How does the New Hampshire primary work?
Tuesday marks the New Hampshire primary, the second Democratic contest of the 2020 presidential cycle.
After last week's chaotic Iowa caucuses, campaigns are looking to the Granite State for more clarity on the race.
Here's what you need to know about how the New Hampshire primary works.
Warren keeps supporters fueled up
Biden says he's New Hampshire 'underdog," but still the best candidate to beat Trump
Former Vice President Joe Biden told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday that he sees himself as the "underdog" in the New Hampshire primary after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses and with his rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., leading polls in the Granite State.
"I think I’m an underdog here, and Bernie won this by 20 points last time," Biden said. "He’s got a next-door neighbor advantage and he’s got a real enthusiasm going here, but I still feel good. This is, you know, it’s a long haul."
Biden said he thinks he is still the best candidate to beat Trump because he can win over working-class voters.
"I think Donald Trump’s demonstrated the last guy he wants to run against is me," he said. " And look, I have always done extremely well in places like Pennsylvania, and I’ve done extremely well in the South as well."
Biden also challenged former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman Mike Bloomberg's support among black voters — a core constituency of the Democratic party and a large part of Biden's lead in national polling.
"I’m looking forward to debating Mike Bloomberg about his support for African Americans," Biden said.
The former vice president repeated his criticism of Sen. Bernie Sanders' embrace of democratic socialism, saying that running on socialism would be a problem in the general; however, Biden would not say he thinks Sanders is unelectable.
"I refuse to suggest any Democrat can lose," he said. "I think, you know, we could run Mickey Mouse against this president and have a shot."
Trump advisers say their ideal Democratic primary scenario is taking shape
One clear winner has emerged so far from the Democratic presidential contest, according to strategists aligned with the presidential re-election team this year — Donald Trump.
That's the thinking among Republican strategists as Joe Biden sees his poll numbers decline in New Hampshire and a two-way race between Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg appears to emerge ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary here, yielding what they see as a best-case scenario for Trump.
Trump himself agrees. "If you want to vote for a weak candidate tomorrow, go ahead," he told supporters at a primary eve rally in Manchester, New Hampshire Monday night, suggesting they were free to sabotage the Democratic vote, since his victory in the Republican contest was certain. "Pick one. Pick the weakest one you think. I don't know who that is."
While politicians and political operatives aren't always the best at picking their opponents — Hillary Clinton's campaign was gleeful over the prospect of running against Trump in 2016 — Republicans say they are salivating over the prospect of a head-to-head contest with either Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, or Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Tuesday's front pages in New Hampshire
Candidates make last-ditch pitches as crucial New Hampshire vote nears
The Democratic presidential candidates were crisscrossing New Hampshire on Monday, making last-ditch pitches to voters one day before its critical first-in-the-nation primary and as President Donald Trump visited the Granite State to rally thousands from within eyeshot of the leading Democrats.
The Democrats held their biggest events of the race here Monday night — in some cases, their final calls for local voters to rally to their sides. The events were taking place as the Iowa caucus totals, which had both former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., claiming victory, were being contested.
Entering primary day here, Sanders held a lead of more than 7 points over Buttigieg in the RealClearPolitics average of several polls. Following them was a more distant battle for third place among a surging Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
"I think we're going to have a great night," Buttigieg said Monday when NBC's Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of "TODAY," asked whether he was ready to predict a win. "Look, we are competing against home region competition, two New England senators, I recognize that, but I still think we're going to have a great night."
Trump looks to upstage Democrats heading into New Hampshire primary
On the eve of this state's first-in-the nation primary, President Donald Trump was in a nostalgic mood, reviving some of his favorite lines of attack from his 2016 campaign as he looked to disrupt the Democratic contest here.
The president's stop Monday in New Hampshire was a return to the site of his first big win in the GOP contest in 2016, in a state that he lost by just a few thousand votes to Hillary Clinton in the general election — a result that Trump again blamed on people who he falsely claimed had been bused in to vote from neighboring Massachusetts.
As he had during his first campaign, the president returned to his incendiary claim that some immigrants are murderers and rapists, and he recited a poem about a snake that sneaked into a woman's house and killed her — a metaphor he has used in the past for immigrants.
"You're on the eve of giving us an opponent, and all these people want open borders," Trump said. He said many immigrants "are not exactly what we're looking for, OK? I mean, murderers, rapists and some other things. They're going to be poisoning our children with drugs."
FIRST READ: How 2020 took away the most important role of Iowa and New Hampshire
It’s possible — maybe even likely — that a single top-tier candidate won't drop out of the Democratic presidential race after Tuesday's primary here.
Even if he finishes fourth (again), Joe Biden can plausibly take his campaign to South Carolina, where he hopes African-American voters can save him. (Then again, Monday’s Quinnipiac poll showed Biden already losing altitude with African Americans.)
And even if she comes in fifth (again), Amy Klobuchar might have every incentive to keep trucking along. After all, her single delegate out of Iowa gets her a spot in the next Democratic debate in Las Vegas.
One explanation why the current field might stick around through Nevada and South Carolina is because the field already got winnowed — not by Iowa and New Hampshire, but instead by the DNC’s debate-qualification process.
Buttigieg: Sanders would have difficulty defeating Trump because of 'labels' and his 'approach'
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, told NBC on Tuesday that the sweeping progressive policies championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders would be the Vermont independent's weak spot in a potential match-up against President Donald Trump in November.
"I think it would be very difficult, and it's not just because of the labels," Buttigieg told "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, referring to Sanders' embrace of democratic socialism. "It's because of the approach."
He added, "When you look at what he's proposing in terms of the budget, all the things he’s put forward and how to pay for them, there’s a $25 trillion hole in how to pay for everything he’s put forward."
Sanders has proposed a wide range of policies that would reshape nearly every aspect of American economic life, from health care to education to the environment. He has proposed taxing Wall Street speculation as a way to pay for his plans. As he vies for re-election, Trump has repeatedly branded Democrats as out-of-touch socialists who would ruin the economy.
Bloomberg wins first, tiny vote in N.H.
DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. — Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg won the votes of a tiny New Hampshire community that barely hung onto its tradition of being among the first to cast ballots in the presidential primary.
Dixville Notch’s five residents cast their ballots just after the stroke of midnight Tuesday in the first 2020 Democratic presidential primary vote in the nation.
Bloomberg received three write-in votes, one from a Republican and two from Democrats. The remaining votes went to Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders.
Polls were opening later Tuesday in the rest of the state, some starting at 6 a.m. The first-in-the-nation presidential primary follows last week’s Iowa caucuses, which was plagued by technical issues that left both Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg claiming victory.
Pete Buttigieg's improbable rise is looking more real every day
The day little-known small city mayor Pete Buttigieg launched his exploratory presidential bid in January 2019, a major media organization expressed reluctance to his campaign about even adding him to its list of White House candidates.
Almost exactly a year later, the day of Iowa's caucuses, it was a very different story. Buttigieg's day began in a Des Moines hotel room with a sprint of predawn national media interviews — NPR, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and more.
It ended, 18 hours later, with the Buttigieg, 38, the openly gay former mayor of South Bend, Indiana's fourth-largest city, declaring an unexpected victory in the first contest of the 2020 presidential race. The Iowa Democratic Party officially awarded the most delegates to Buttigieg on Sunday night, even though Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also has declared victory there because he won more popular votes. NBC News has not yet called the botched race.
Ahead of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday, polls show Buttigieg running second and headed toward a solid finish behind Sanders.
Warren ramps up Buttigieg hits ahead of make-or-break New Hampshire vote
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is ramping up her criticism of one particular Democratic rival — former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — ahead of a make-or-break primary in which many voters are torn between the two.
It comes at a time when other Democratic rivals are also taking one of the newly minted front-runners to task. Warren is doing so as she pitches herself as the only candidate who can unite the Democratic Party.
Like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Warren has centered her criticism of Buttigieg on his having accepted campaign donations from a series of billionaires. The issue came up during Friday's Democratic primary debate in Manchester, and Warren has revisited it multiple times in the days since.
Asked about the coalition Buttigieg seeks to build, Warren said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that "the coalition of billionaires is not exactly what's going carry us over the top."
"Here's the thing," she said. "If it's going to take sucking up to billionaires or being a billionaire to get the Democratic nomination to run for president, then all I can say is buckle up, America, because our government is going to work even better for billionaires and even worse for everyone else."
It's an on-brand criticism from a candidate who has pitched herself as an anti-corruption crusader looking to ferret big money out of the political process and hit the country's ultra-rich with a wealth tax.
New leaders Sanders, Buttigieg come under fire at New Hampshire Democratic debate
Coming out of Iowa, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg have emerged as the front-runners in the Democratic primary. Their challengers spent the better part of the debate Friday night trying to knock them down a peg, days before the New Hampshire primary Tuesday.
The debate kicked off with several contenders taking shots at Sanders. Soon after, the fire turned on Buttigieg. In the process, the stage of seven candidates engaged in battles over health care and race, while unifying in blasting President Donald Trump.
The contest began with Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar and Buttigieg piling on Sanders, expressing concern that a self-described democratic socialist won't be able to defeat Trump. Buttigieg would face the heat next. Biden and Klobuchar took him on for saying that the country needs a leader who hasn't been a part of Washington politics.
"We have a newcomer in the White House, and look where it got us," Klobuchar said.
'This guy's not a Barack Obama': Biden turns up the heat on Buttigieg
Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered his most stinging attacks on Pete Buttigieg yet in the days leading up to the New Hampshire primary, mocking his mayoral accomplishments Saturday in an online campaign ad and dismissing him as "not a Barack Obama."
The escalation came as candidates have piled on Buttigieg in the days leading up to New Hampshire's crucial first-in-the-nation primary, following the claim of victory by the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, in the chaotic Iowa caucuses and Biden's underwhelming fourth-place finish there.
Saturday evening, the candidates shared a stage with the rest of the field at the McIntyre-Shaheen dinner in Manchester, delivering speeches before a packed arena of New Hampshire Democrats.
In the 90-second ad, Biden contrasted his efforts to help pass the Violence Against Women Act, the Affordable Care Act, a ban on assault weapons, as well as his work to negotiate the Iran nuclear deal and boost the Midwest's economy with Buttigieg's work installing "decorative lights," loosening regulations on pet chip scanners and "laying out decorative brick" on South Bend sidewalks.
Iowa chaos raises New Hampshire stakes and reshapes Democratic contest
A lingering fog of uncertainty over the results of the year's first presidential nominating contest raised the stakes for the Democratic contenders as they descended on the Granite State ahead of the second.
As some declared victory in Iowa hours before the announcement of any vote counts, national Democratic front-runner Joe Biden's campaign preemptively questioned the integrity of the results — highlighting the risk the outcome in Iowa may pose to the former vice president's carefully cultivated "electability" advantage ahead of New Hampshire's Feb. 11 primary.