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New Hampshire is known for its independent streak, especially when it comes to elections. Nonetheless, the Granite State has voted blue since 1992 with one exception in 2000. In 2020, President Joe Biden won the state’s four electoral votes by 7% over former President Donald Trump.
The Washington Examiner is following the key issues voters care about as they prepare to vote for the next president of the United States. The specific issues being tracked are Social Security, crime, abortion, the economy, and immigration.
These concerns were chosen with the help of the Associated Press’s issues tracker. The Washington Examiner subsequently compared five of the key matters in Google Trends on a state-by-state basis, revealing which ones are most important to voters in swing-state contests.
Here, you can track how important these various concerns are to the voters in New Hampshire on a rolling 30-day basis.
Social Security took the top spot for New Hampshire voters. The state has a median population of 43.1 years old, and approximately 20.8% of the state is 65 or older. The state is the second oldest state, tied with Vermont. By 2030, it’s estimated that there will be more adults over 65 than children, placing a shifting population right in line with social security’s potential insolvency.
With an aging population, the state’s total eight Social Security Administration locations might wind up being slightly outnumbered. Concerns over the administration’s longevity and accessibility seem right in place in the makeup of this state.
Crime followed social security in importance to New Hampshire voters even though the state ranks 49th out of 50 for violent crime rate. Violent crime occurs at a rate of 126 out of 100,000 and when compared to the national average of 381, equates to a 65% decrease. New Hampshire’s property theft rate is 50% lower than the national average, and the Granite State has the lowest rates of burglary and motor theft in the nation.
Overall, New Hampshire is one of the safest states in the country, and it isn’t surprising that the residents might want to keep it that way.
Abortion was the third most searched topic in New Hampshire, where the procedure is accessible but does not have legal protection. Their law does state that abortion after 24 weeks is illegal and a parent or guardian must be notified before care is provided. However, a minor can petition a judge for permission without parental notice.
Abortion is never mentioned in the state’s laws or protections. However, it is enshrined in the state’s Constitution that an individual’s right to privacy from governmental intrusion is essential. The state has never clarified whether that involves the right to abortion, but there have been no moves made to block access to the procedure.
Concerns over the economy aren’t too bad with the issue coming in fourth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis found New Hampshire’s unemployment rate has consistently been below the national average for the last five years; the state’s current unemployment rate is 2.3% placing it sixth in the nation.
The gross domestic product in the third quarter of 2023 was $112.5 billion in goods and services and its growth was 4.5%. New Hampshire accounted for 0.7% of the nation’s economy, ranking 40th in economy size.
New Hampshire’s mining, oil, and gas extraction saw a 13.4% increase with a GDP of $129 million, and the construction industry had a 19% increase, bumping it up to $3.3 billion. The highest GDP of any industry was in real estate with $15.73 billion. New Hampshire’s educational services also saw a 10% increase in growth, resulting in a GDP of $2.67 billion.
Immigration came in last for the Granite State’s concerns. The immigrant population isn’t large in New Hampshire with the American Immigration Council reporting that 5.9% of its population being foreign born and 2.2% of its residents having at least one immigrant parent. Immigrants in New Hampshire are most likely to have India or China as their country of origin.
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About 7% of New Hampshire’s workforce is immigrants- 11.3% of the manufacturing workforce is immigrants, and 13.4% of STEM workers are immigrants. More immigrants than U.S.-born residents have graduate degrees, and 3,767 international students contribute $161.3 million to the state’s economy.
Immigrants in New Hampshire had a total spending power of $3.3 billion and paid $1.1 billion in taxes in 2022. Of the immigrants in the state, 61.1% are naturalized, 12,700 are eligible for naturalization, and 11.6% of immigrants are undocumented.
As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran overtakes the foreign policy debate in Washington, two Democratic governors with potential 2028 presidential aspirations — Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear — recently traveled to New Hampshire, introducing themselves to the state’s famously engaged voters. The two weighed in on the war and both criticized and questioned President Trump’s strategy and endgame.
“If a president is going to take a country into war, and risk the lives of American troops and Americans in the region, he has to have a real justification and not one that seems to change every five to 10 hours,” Beshear told CBS News after a Democratic fundraiser in Keene.
“This President seems to use force before ever trying diplomacy, and he has a duty to sell it to the American people and to address Congress with it,” Beshear continued. “He hasn’t done any of that. In fact, it appears there isn’t even a plan for what success looks like. He’s gone from regime change to strategic objectives and now is talking about unconditional surrender, which isn’t realistic where he is.”
Beshear also said he thought that Congress should have reined in Mr. Trump’s war powers.
“He is trying to ignore Congress. He’s trying to even ignore the American people,” Beshear said.
He went on to note that the president’s State of the Union address took place “three — four days before he launched this attack,” and Mr. Trump “didn’t even have the respect to tell the American people the threat that he thought Iran posed to us.”
Last week, both the House and the Senate failed to pass resolutions to limit Mr. Trump’s war powers and stop him from taking further military action against Iran without congressional support.
For Newsom, the war with Iran constitutes part of a broader criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At an event last Tuesday in Los Angeles, Newsom had compared Israel to an “apartheid state.” Later, in New Hampshire, he sought to clarify his comment.
“I was specifically referring to a Tom Friedman [New York Times] column last week, where Tom used that word of apartheid as it relates to the direction Bibi is going, particularly on the annexation of the West Bank,” Newsom explained during a book tour event Thursday night in Portsmouth. “I’m very angry, with what he is doing and why he’s doing it, what he’s going to ultimately try to do to the Supreme Court there, what he’s trying to do to save his own political career.”
Friedman wrote that at the same time that the U.S. and Israel are prosecuting a war in Iran, within Israel, Netanyahu’s government has undertaken efforts to annex the West Bank, driving Palestinians from their homes; fire the attorney general who is leading the prosecution against Netanyahu for corruption; and block the government’s attempt to establish a commission to examine the failures that led up to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Jews by Hamas.
CBS News has reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.
On Iran, Newsom said, “I’m very angry about this war, with all due respect, you know, not because I’m angry the supreme leader is dead. Quite the contrary. I’m not naive about the last 37 years of his reign. Forty-seven years since ’79 — the revolution,” Newsom said. “But I’m also mindful that you have a president who still is inarticulate and incapable of giving us the rationale of why? Why now? What’s the endgame?”
Many attendees at Newsom’s book event said that the situation in Iran is a top-of-mind issue for them, too. Some said they’re “horrified” by what is happening.
29-year-old Alicia Marr told CBS News she decided to attend Newsom’s event because of his social media response to the war with Iran.
“There was one spot left, and I decided to pick it up, and it was due to his response to the war, that it is just unacceptable, and I would agree with that,” Marr said.
While some voters like Marr are eager to hear about where potential candidates stand on foreign policy, many at Newsom’s event said they care most about how potential candidates plan to address domestic issues.
“I’m more focused on getting the middle class back on track and fighting the oligarchy, and I’m less invested in international issues,” said Anita Alden, who also attended Newsom’s event,
“I wouldn’t call myself America first, but we have so many problems at home that are my priority,” she told CBS News.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who may also be weighing another White House bid, told Fox 2 Detroit last week that she “unequivocally opposes” the Trump administration’s military action in Iran and urged Congress to take action.
“If we want to stop Donald Trump with this random decision that he has arrived at, then Congress must act, and Congress must act immediately. The American people do not want our sons and daughters to go into this unauthorized war of choice,” Harris said.
Mr. Trump has lashed out against Democrats who have pushed back on his Iran strategy, calling them “losers” last week and arguing that they would criticize any decision he made on Iran.
“If I did it, it’s no good. If I didn’t do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this,” the president said.
Local News
A Massachusetts man was arrested late Wednesday night after police say he was driving more than 100 mph on a New Hampshire roadway.
Officers with the Rindge Police Department stopped a vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. on Route 202 near Sears Drive in Rindge following a report of a car traveling at excessive speed, according to a statement from Chief Rachel Malynowski.
The vehicle, a 2020 Kia Stinger, was spotted traveling at 104 mph in a posted 55 mph zone, Malynowski said.
The driver, a 21-year-old man from Attleboro, was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a motor vehicle, according to police.
He is scheduled to be arraigned April 5. If convicted, the man faces a fine of at least $750, in addition to the court’s penalty assessment, and a 90-day license suspension, Malynowski said.
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