Op-Ed: 300,000 people in New Hampshire voted. This is proof of what, exactly?

Nikki Haley has questioned Donald Trump’s mental fitness and warned that he would bring “chaos” if reelected – Copyright AFP/File Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, Christian MONTERROSA

In politics no information is the best information. That’s particularly the case with any sort of numbers.

According to sources, at total of 300,000 people in New Hampshire, population 1.4 million, voted in the Republican primary. That, believe it or not, is a record turnout.  This sort of miniscule demographic wouldn’t get a mention in basic marketing, unless it was politics.  

You can read this number of voters as 0.01% of the US population and X% of whatever the actual number of eligible US voters may be. It would be nice for someone to condescend to get that number. About 68% of eligible voters actually vote in the US. It’s a low turnout compared to the rest of the world.

One way or another, this vote was hardly a showcase of invincibility for Trump. Of this tiny group a double-digit percentage still voted for Haley. Exit polls showed non-MAGA Republicans generally voted for Haley in preference to Trump.

These are not particularly convincing figures in terms of the Federal election. New Hampshire is famous as a benchmark state, but that’s the whole story in terms of significance.

Nor is it too impressive that the Republican nomination has turned into a dictatorship. Many people don’t like that, and more to the point don’t trust it. Nikki Haley and her supporters may be the only vertebrates in the RNC.

In short, the NH RNC nomination was always going to be a stacked deck. Other Republican candidates have chickened out. Yet Haley still made some impact. Iowa was much the same.

That’s where the predictions of doom for Trump are heading. The consensus is that all the non-MAGA voters have to do is not vote for Trump, and he’s finished. He simply can’t win if that sort of percentage of Republican voters pulls the plug on him.

There have been other signs. Some rallies were flops with very low attendance even in Flyover Land. He’s divided the Republican Party as much as he has the US. A lot of people can’t stand him. This level of negativity towards Trump has been building for years.

Trump is lousy at reading numbers, particularly demographics. If he gets disqualified, he can’t win. He claims to be the most popular president in history. He wasn’t and isn’t. He’s already talking about possible voter fraud in 2024, which just looks like an excuse if he loses. That’s hardly a sign of confidence.

The end is near one way or another for Trump. It can’t come soon enough.