Donald Trump projected to hold off Nikki Haley, win New Hampshire primary

EXETER, New Hampshire — Former President Donald Trump took a giant step closer to his third consecutive Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, holding off former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to complete the Iowa-New Hampshire double.

With just 18% of the expected vote in, Trump led Haley by under 10 percentage points — a smaller margin than most polls suggested he would win by entering primary day.

Trump, 77, came into the Granite State contest fresh off defeating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by nearly 30 points in last week’s Iowa caucus.

After his initial win, the former president was further boosted by more endorsements — including from DeSantis after the Sunshine State leader dropped out of the race Sunday.

As in Iowa, the former president’s camp intended to leave nothing to chance, with Trump himself telling his supporters to turn out in large numbers because “margins are important” and back-to-back blowouts would send a message of “unity” in the GOP.

Trump also flooded New Hampshire with prominent surrogates — including No. 4 House Republican Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and former presidential candidates Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — while his campaign made hundreds of thousands of calls to boost voter turnout.

Live election results from New Hampshire

For Haley, New Hampshire was her best opportunity to beat out the GOP frontrunner, as some polls in January showed her within four percentage points of the former president.

The 52-year-old leaned heavily on New Hampshire’s large population of independent voters and veterans, focusing on her vision for the economy, foreign policy and her husband’s military experience.

On primary morning, Haley’s campaign vowed to continue its fight at least through Super Tuesday on March 5, when 16 states and territories hold their nominating votes.

“After Super Tuesday, we will have a very good picture of where this race stands … Until then, everyone should take a deep breath,” campaign manager Betsy Ankney wrote in a memo.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, Haley’s top backer, wavered on his promises for the state, first saying the former United Nations ambassador could “win,” before arguing defeating Trump was not necessary.

On Sunday, Haley told The Post that she just wanted to be “stronger than she was in Iowa.”

“In Iowa I wanted to be strong. We did that. We started at 2%, we ended at 20%,” Haley said during a campaign stop in Epping.

“In New Hampshire, I want to be even stronger than that, and in South Carolina I want to be even stronger than that. We’ll find out what ‘strong’ and ‘stronger’ is on Election Day, but that’s the goal. That’s always been the goal.”

The path forward will be an uphill climb.

Haley is not registered for the Feb. 8 Nevada caucus and is instead running in the Feb. 6 primary, meaning she is not eligible to receive delegates. She said Sunday she chose to not compete against Trump in the caucus because the Silver State was already “bought and paid” for by his campaign.

In her home state of South Carolina, meanwhile, Haley is currently polling more than 30 points behind Trump, coming in at 21.8% compared to his 52%.