Trump sends Republicans out to sabotage Democrat vote
DONALD Trump sought to sabotage last night’s Democrat presidential nomination contest in New Hampshire by telling his own supporters to vote in it and pick the “weakest” candidate.
In New Hampshire, the second US state to vote, 40 per cent of voters are not officially registered as Republicans or Democrats, and can choose which party’s primary process to take part in.
At a rally in the city of Manchester on the eve of the election the president said his supporters who were not registered should go to Democrat polls.
He added: “My only problem is figuring out who the weakest is. They’re all weak. You can vote for the weakest [Democrat] candidate if you want, don’t worry about it.”
Mr Trump’s campaign believe Bernie Sanders, 78, the democratic socialist, would be easiest to beat.
Meanwhile, Democrat candidates made desperate last pitches for votes.
Mr Sanders appeared with rock band The Strokes, and Cynthia Nixon, the Sex and the City actress, at a packed arena in Durham. He called Mr Trump “a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe, a homophobe and a religious bigot”, adding: “And those are his nice qualities.”
Joe Biden, the former vice president, delivered coffee and doughnuts to firefighters, while Pete Buttigieg met supporters at a school at 6am as they chanted “President Pete”.
A final average of pre-election polls had Mr Sanders leading with 27 per cent, Mr Buttigieg on 21 per cent, US senator Amy Klobuchar surging on 12 per cent, and Mr Biden and senator Elizabeth Warren tied on 11 per cent.
Michael Bloomberg, the 14th richest person in the world, who has chosen to skip the early primaries, won New Hampshire’s first result in the hamlet of Dixville Notch despite not being on the ballot after three of the five voters there wrote his name on their papers.