Another week has flown by in the semester and until I wrote this article, I felt like I was completely sheltered in the SMU bubble. As I was researching for this article, there were three major parts that stood out to me on the news: the results of the last primary and key party updates for each party. Of course, there are many other events that provide new talking points for all of the candidates, like the death of Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court. However, let’s get down to the point.
1. New Hampshire primaries
With results as expected, there were few surprises in the New Hampshire primary that took place last Tuesday. Donald Trump prevailed with poll numbers that were through the charts compared to his establishment-affiliated candidates. His populist rhetoric prevailed with most Republicans in the area. The surprise came for second place with John Kasich’s optimistic message prevailing over Cruz’s conservative stump that won him Iowa. Hillary Clinton’s campaign had a big surprise in New Hampshire, a state that has always been favorable to the Clinton family. She had a 22-point loss to Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders. There are formidable fights in both parties over this election.
Courtesy of NBC26
Republicans:
1. Donald Trump, 35.3 %
2. John Kasich, 15.8%
3. Ted Cruz, 11.7%
Democrats:
1. Bernie Sanders, 60.4%
2. Hillary Clinton, 38.0%
Courtesy of Wikipedia
2. The Republican party update
The Republicans have their next primary in South Carolina on the 20th and Nevada on the 23rd. The debates have really had an impact on the voting public because on the debate that took place on February 6th, Marco Rubio sustained many attacks from his other GOP competitors that knocked him off of the top 3 finish that he had in Iowa. The past debate only continued to showcase Donald Trump’s supremacy with his populist message. Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, also suspended his campaign after a low finish in New Hampshire to recuperate his strength in maintaining his governorship.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
3. The Democratic party update
The next primary for the Democrats is in the exact opposite of the Republicans, with Nevada coming before South Carolina. The news journals all report that Hillary Clinton has a special lead amongst minorities, who are an important voting block in the upcoming primaries. Hillary Clinton’s campaign has started more pointed attacks and Secretary Clinton has been substantiating her foreign policy record, first and foremost, to attack Senator Sander’s campaigns.
The next primaries are really close and the race is definitely heating up. Most primaries are in the month of March so it’ll be interesting to see how the campaigns cope with the added pressure of having an identifiable winner in the next month.