New Hampshire Republicans don't want to lose again. GOP voters want 'new blood' in 2024

SALEM, N.H. – At Nikki Haley's fourth town hall in Salem on Tuesday, Ed Huminick asked a question shared by many longtime Republicans in New Hampshire – an early voting state that can make or break presidential candidates.

"How do you intend on fixing the Republican Party?" he asked Haley, a 2024 presidential hopeful and former South Carolina governor.

The 70-year-old Granite State voter complained about the modern GOP as he sees it today, saying he has been called multiple times a "RINO," or Republican in name only.

Why New Hampshire matters in 2024

Huminick's question is a common sentiment among GOP voters in the important, first-in-the-nation voting state of New Hampshire. After President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election and surprising Democratic victories in the 2022 midterms, Republican voters here are tired of losing; they want a candidate who can unite the party and win.

Polling shows former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely speculated to launch a presidential campaign soon, are the two big frontrunners in the race to take the nomination. But on the ground in the Granite State, voters aren't sure of any candidate yet.

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Alex Crucio, a 55-year-old Republican from Nashua, said he hasn't ruled out voting for Trump. But for this election cycle, it's anyone's game to earn his vote.

"If (Trump) wins the primary, I'll definitely vote for him," Crucio said. "But as far as I'm concerned, the Republican party is a wide open race."

Trump has a lead, but that could change

Trump holds a massive lead in New Hampshire in a hypothetical Republican primary, drawing 58% support, according to a poll conducted in early March by Emerson College. That lead will make him a target for other possible contenders in the field, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who blasted the former president Monday in his visit to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester.

“Trump said a few weeks ago, ‘I am your retribution,’” Christie said. “Guess what, everybody? No thanks.”

“The only person he cares about is him,” Christie added.

Neil Levesque, executive director at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, chalked up Trump's lead in early polling to his "name ID" and familiarity as a former president.

"The more candidates come into New Hampshire, the more they campaign, the more voters test them, the more the numbers will change," Levesque said.

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Why one GOP voter likes Haley: 'She's not Trump'

Crucio doesn't share the heavy anti-Trump sentiment that Christie stumps on, but he admits that the former president "has lost his shine a little bit."

Huminick however, active in local Republican politics in his hometown of Salem, agrees wholeheartedly with Christie. After Haley's town hall, he said he was heavily impressed with Haley. Why?

"She's not Trump," Huminick said.

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Voters want other candidates like DeSantis to be available

Though DeSantis is largely considered the second frontrunner behind Trump, his lack of accessibility to voters is concerning for some. The Florida governor is slated to visit New Hampshire in April to headline the state GOP's annual fundraising dinner.

"It puts me off," said John Burns, 75, of Dover, who said the style of New Hampshire's small town politics is a big consideration for him on the ballot.

Trina Brand, 53, from Derry, expressed similar sentiments, saying that seeing a candidate get up close and personal with voters is important to her. She doesn't know too much about DeSantis, but that could change if he were to hold an open event.

"It's a lot more fun to interact. The canned speeches are not as interesting," Brand said. "It's interesting to see how the candidates respond to the voters."

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What's most important? A winner

Besides shopping for a candidate that fulfills traditional Republican talking points such as tough-on-crime messaging and fiscal conservatism, GOP voters in the Granite State care more this cycle about a quality beyond policy stances: electability.

“A lot of Republicans are concerned about losing again,” Levesque said, pointing to Biden’s victory in 2020 and Democrats’ performance in the 2022 midterms. “At this point, Republicans are starting to test candidates and part of what they’re wondering is, ‘Can this candidate beat the Democrat?’”

That’s something Haley has hinted at in her stumps in New Hampshire, confidently telling voters that she’s never lost an election before.

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“In this run for president, mark my words. We will win just like we did everything else. I’ve never lost a race. I don’t think I’d be good at it to be honest,” said Haley to chuckles from her crowds in Dover and Salem.

Those words of confidence are inspiring to some voters.

GOP voter says Trump should take a back seat

John Lyscars, 60, of Hooksett, said "of course" he cares about electability. On Trump, Lyscars said he appreciates him, but thinks he should take a back seat in Republican politics.

"It's time for new blood. It's as simple as that," said Lyscars. "What I want Trump to do though, is stay deep in the Republican Party, push his conservative policies up, but allow somebody else to get that message to the United States and to the voters."

"We're not going to win it by winning less than half (of the popular vote). We've already seen that." Lyscars continued. "We've got to win more than half and we've got to do it overwhelmingly. Someone like Nikki Haley could do that."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump vs. DeSantis, Christie, Haley is the 2024 fight N.H. voters want