Presidential elections heat up early this year.

On Jan. 24, the New Hampshire presidential primary election was called by the Associated Press. Former president Donald Trump won the Republican primary with 54 percent of the vote. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley won 43 percent and has stated she will stay in the race. Other candidates received almost no votes, as most have dropped out after the Iowa primary. These include Florida governor Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom have since endorsed Trump. Associated Press polling shows that Trump’s political weaknesses lie mostly among self- identified moderate voters, college-educated voters, and suburban voters. The Supreme Court is still set to decide whether or not Trump is eligible for the presidency under the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment following the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

In the Democratic primary, New Hampshire went against the party standards and held their primary before South Carolina, causing Joe Biden’s campaign to turn to a write-in. President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary by write-in with 64 percent of the votes, with the next most votes going to Minnesota representative Dean Phillips, who received 20 percent of the vote. The win came amid growing disapproval of President Biden. According to recent polling from AP, Biden’s approval ratings are at 41 percent.

The next primary is Nevada’s on Feb. 6, while the Republican caucus – a different method of selecting a nominee – will take place on Feb. 8. Haley will appear on the primary ballot, while Trump will be an option at the party-run caucus and will be the only major candidate eligible for Nevada’s delegates. The party has decided only to accept the caucus results for the purposes of awarding delegates.

Only about 400,000 people have voted in two, rural primaries so far. Despite this, both the Trump and Biden campaigns have started to speak as if they are already the victors of their party’s nomination, and each seems ready to take on the other in November for a second time. The general election will be held later this year on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Article by Julian White