Trump campaign invades New Hampshire primary with an 'army' of 'horn-honking, flag-waving' supporters

23 October 2023

Donald Trump's critics on the right continue to hope that another Republican will win the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. But so far, none of the other candidates are even close to him in polls.

According to a USA Today poll released on October 23, Trump has a 46 percent lead over the GOP primary's second-place candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. And an Emerson College poll released three days earlier finds Trump with a 51 percent lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who are tied for second place in that survey.

The Messenger's Trent Spiner, reporting on October 23, stresses that Trump is going into New Hampshire's Republican primary with a very aggressive ground game.

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"When former President Donald Trump pays the $1000 fee on Monday to add his name to the ballot for New Hampshire's primary, he'll do it with the backing of a campaign machine dwarfing that of any other candidate," Spiner explains. "Where other candidates rely on one or two staff or paid, out-of-state canvassers, Trump's campaign has almost a dozen staff and hundreds of local volunteers willing to spend their weekends knocking on doors or being one of more than 100 vehicles in horn-honking, flag-flying, caravans of cars driving through classic New England downtowns."

Spiner adds, "At some events hosted by other candidates, it isn't unusual to see about the same number of people outside waiving Trump signs as people inside trying to learn about his opponent. He's also led the state in every reliable poll this year, most of the time by more than 30 points, despite facing multiple criminal indictments."

But one right-wing group that isn't pushing Trump in New Hampshire is the Charles Koch-associated Americans for Prosperity.

Greg Moore, director for AFP's New Hampshire operations, told The Messenger that other GOP candidates are operating a "more traditional New Hampshire style presidential primary campaign."

Moore said of DeSantis, Haley and other candidates running against Trump, "These people who are running to go out, build up name ID and develop lists of supporters — all these folks had to start from scratch, unlike the president, who started with a huge number of people who attended prior events, or volunteered for his campaign in the past."

Read The Messenger's full report at this link.

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