"We want to do better than we did in Iowa"

All Republican primary candidates are vying for the 22 delegates who are at stake in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary

While winning the New Hampshire primary is helpful, it is not critical to winning the nomination or the White House. Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush all lost the New Hampshire primary before going on to win their first term in the general election. Donald Trump won the primary in 2016.

The Granite State continues to be an important battleground in the general election. George W. Bush just eked out a narrow victory in 2000, without which Al Gore would have won the White House. While Biden won the state with nearly 53% of the vote, it hasn’t always gone to the national winner. John Kerry won the state in 2004, and Hillary Clinton won it by less than half a percentage point in 2016.

In the 2020 general election, 46% of New Hampshire’s voters were self-described independents. 31% of the state’s voters identified as Republicans and 23% identified as Democrats. Biden won 62% of the voters who identified as independents.

Critical battleground: Republicans and Democrats have their typical area of success, but the greater Manchester and Nashua region is a critical battleground. While the cities have leaned Democratic in recent years, GOP Gov. Chris Sununu won both cities in 2020 and 2022, even as they voted Democratic in federal races. The surrounding towns are highly competitive, but recently Democrats have had more success to the west of Manchester and Nashua.