The Politics Corner

Christopher Motola, Tower Staff

Tuesday’s Primary in New Hampshire saw quick and decisive victories for both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Each of the two candidates defeated their opponents by a large margin.

Donald Trump, the anticipated winner going into the primary, won 35% of the vote. Trump walked away from New Hampshire with 10 of the total 23 delegates. Ohio Governor John Kasich came in second place with 15.8%. Kasich’s second place finish has led to speculation that he may become the viable establishment favorite that other candidates (Christie, Bush, Rubio) will eventually coalesce around. However, Bush and Rubio show no signs of slowing down just yet. If Kasich wishes to succeed, he needs to secure “a quick, massive financial infusion,” as well as grow “a political network in many states almost from scratch,” says the Washington Post.

Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, and Marco Rubio came in third, fourth, and fifth place, respectively earning 11.7%, 11%, and 10.6%. This was an especially shocking result for Marco Rubio, who has long been the favored establishment candidate, and viewed as the most appealing alternative to outsider candidates like Trump or Cruz. Rubio’s poor performance amongst New Hampshire voters has been linked to his recent debate gaffe, where he repeated the same rehearsed stump speech four times. As he put it to his supporters, “our disappointment tonight is not on you. It’s on me. I did not do well on Saturday night… that will never happen again.” Rubio’s misstep during the debate last Saturday has raised doubts amongst pundits and voters alike regarding his electability. Real Clear Politics currently projects that he will place in third in South Carolina, behind Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. After the results from New Hampshire, both Carly Fiorina and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie suspended their campaigns on Wednesday.

Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary, 60% to 38%, becoming the first Jewish candidate to win a presidential primary in U.S. history. Although this was an unsurprising victory for Sanders, ABC News exit polls revealed some surprising information about the demographics of Sanders supporters. Sanders won the female vote 53%-46%, as well as a staggering 89% of the youth vote. In addition, despite Sanders’s impressive performance in New Hampshire, he is expected to fare much worse in the future. Real Clear Politics puts Sanders 30 percentage points behind Clinton in both South Carolina and Nevada.