GOP voters express concerns about immigration
WASHINGTON — New Hampshire Republicans who voted Tuesday expressed a desire to curb immigration and overhaul the federal government, yet they have some misgivings about former president Trump and the criminal charges facing him, according to a survey of voters.
There were signs Democrats are rallying around President Biden on the economy, but many have concerns about his age — he is 81 — and his handling of the war in the Middle East.
The findings from AP VoteCast point to some of the dominant issues that could shape the general election in November, with voters sharing which issues they care most about and how they perceive the top candidates. Even as the coronavirus pandemic has faded as an election-defining risk, the results of the survey show that the cultural and social forces from the 2020 election have endured.
AP VoteCast was a survey of more than 1,890 New Hampshire voters taking part in the Republican primary and 873 Democratic primary voters. The survey is conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The New Hampshire primaries are unique because undeclared voters — those not affiliated with either party — can vote for a particular party. This draws in voters who are not necessarily party loyalists. More than 4 in 10 GOP primary voters are not affiliated with a party, compared with about 2 in 10 in the Democratic primary.
New Hampshire Republican voters were more likely than those in Iowa to say they are political moderates. They are less likely to identify as born-again Christians. GOP voters in New Hampshire are less supportive than are Iowa Republicans of a six-week abortion ban or reducing aid for Ukraine. Only about one-half identify with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, and nearly half say Biden was legitimately elected four years ago.
As inflation has eased and job growth continued, concerns about the economy have become less pressing compared with the chaos along the southern border.
In New Hampshire, about 4 in 10 Republican voters identify immigration as the most critical issue facing the United States. About 7 in 10 say immigrants in the country today do more to hurt the country than help it. And 8 in 10 favor building a wall along the southern border.
By contrast, 3 in 10 Republican voters say the economy is their priority. This mirrors the results from the Iowa caucuses and marks a change from the 2020 and 2022 general elections when Republicans generally said the economy was a top concern.
About 8 in 10 GOP voters in the New Hampshire primary say they would like substantial changes or a complete and total upheaval in how the country is run, continuing a theme that emerged among Republicans in the Iowa caucuses.
Compared with Iowa caucusgoers, New Hampshire Republican primary voters have slightly more doubts about Trump, who won the caucuses. About half of GOP voters are very or somewhat concerned that Trump is too extreme to win the general election.