New Hampshire exit polls: Defeating Trump tops issues for Democratic voters

By a nearly 2-to-1 ratio, New Hampshire voters who cast ballots in Tuesday's Democratic primary said they would rather see a nominee who can beat President Donald Trump in November than one who agrees with them on the issues, according to early data from an NBC News exit poll.

Sixty-two percent of respondents said they would rather see a nominee who can beat Trump, while 34 percent said that they would prefer one who agrees with them on major issues.

Among those who value issues over electability, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was the clear choice at 37 percent, with former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg following at 23 percent and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., at 12 percent.

But among those who said beating Trump was the top priority, their top choices were Buttigieg (27 percent) and Klobuchar (21 percent) with Sanders third at 19 percent.

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As expected, Sanders did well with self-identified liberals, according to early NBC polling data. The Vermont senator captured 33 percent support from this group, followed by Buttigieg with 21 percent and Klobuchar with 16 percent.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., got just 12 percent of self-described liberals, polling data showed.

Among those voters who called themselves moderate or conservative, Klobuchar and Buttigieg were virtually tied at 28 percent and 25 percent, respectively, with Sanders following at 16 percent and former Vice President Joe Biden at 11 percent.

And among Democratic voters who said they want a candidate to "unite the country," Klobuchar was the top finisher at 31 percent, Buttigieg at 29 pecent, Biden with 14 percent and Sanders at 11 percent, early polling data showed.

Conversely, among Democrats who said "bringing change” was a top priority, Sanders led with 38 percent, followed by Buttigieg with 20 percent, Klobuchar with 13 percent, Warren with 12 percent and Biden with 8 percent.

Age played a counter-intuitive role in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, with younger voters backing older candidates and older voters supporting younger ones, early polling data suggested.

Voters 45 and younger in the Democratic primary gave 62 percent of their support to candidates over 70, such as Sanders, Warren and Biden.

That contrasts to Democratic voters 45 and older who showed 61-percent backing for candidates younger than 70, such as Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang.

An unusually large number of New Hampshire primary voters say they waited until the final days of the campaign to settle on a candidate.

The early data showed that 48 percent of Democratic respondents said they made up their minds in the last few days, higher that in 2016 (25 percent) and 2008 (38 percent).

Friday night’s Democratic debate also seemed to play a critical role for many of these Democratic voters, as 16 percent said it was the single most important factor in their decision, early poll numbers showed. Another 32 percent said it was one of several important factors.

When asked whether a female presidential nominee would be a plus or a minus in the general election against Trump, 58 percent of Democratic primary voters said they don't believe it would matter either way.

Among the remainder, though, more say a female nominee would have a harder time, rather than an easier time, beating Trump, early polling data showed.

Women (34 percent) were more likely than men (26 percent) to believe that nominating a woman would actually make it harder for a Democrat to beat Trump.

New Hampshire voters in both parties agree that Trump has emerged from impeachment largely unscathed, the early exit poll data showed.

Less than a quarter of those voting in the Democratic primary said Trump’s impeachment has hurt his re-election chances.

Fifty-nine percent of Democratic voters said impeachment made no difference to Trump’s re-election effort, early exit polls showed, while 15 percent said the proceedings even helped him.

Two-thirds of GOP voters said that impeachment has helped Trump while just 5 percent said it has hurt his chances.

Democrats were split in their vision of the party's future, with 40 percent of respondents saying they would like to see a return to policies of President Barack Obama, 38 percent demanding more liberal action and 12 percent seeking a more conservative course.

New Hampshire Democratic primary voters also said they generally like the idea of “Medicare for all,” but opinions differ sharply along the lines of income, according to early polling data.

Establishing a single, government-run health plan (like Medicare for All) was a popular proposal among those with annual family incomes of less than $50,000, as 70 percent of voters from that group favored it in the early data.

But support slips sharply among Democrats higher up the income ladder. Among those from households making more than $100,000 per year, opinion on a plan like Medicare for All was split, with 47 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed.

When asked about the most important issues, 37 percent Democratic respondents said healthcare was the top concern, 28 percent climate change, 19 percent income inequality and 11 foreign policy.

New Hampshire voters in Tuesday's Democratic primary were more likely to be female and more educated than their GOP counterparts.

Of Democratic voters, 55 percent had at least a bachelor's degree while 33 percent of GOP voters had their four-year college degree, early data showed.

Fifty-five percent of Democratic voters were women, while just 44 percent of GOP primary voters were female, according to pollsters.

Compared to Democrats, Republican voters were twice as likely — 22 percent to 10 percent — to be military veterans.

All of these differences mirror the demographics of Democratic and Republican supporters across the nation.

Republicans who voted in the GOP primary on Tuesday solidly backed Trump, who faced only nominal competition on the GOP side.

Nearly 9 in 10 of those GOP voters said they believe Trump has kept his campaign promises, and nearly 9 in 10 also said they were either “enthusiastic” or “satisfied” with the current administration.

About 8 in 10 said they support building a wall spanning the U.S.-Mexican border, Trump’s signature campaign issue of 2016, and 95 percent voters in the Republican primary said they feel the economy is in either “excellent” or “good" shape.

And when asked if they felt more loyalty to the president or the GOP — 54 percent of Republican primary voters said Trump while 39 percent said the party, according to the early data.

Emotions were running high among voters in both parties, the early poll data showed.

Among Democrats, 81 percent said they were "angry" with the Trump administration, 14 percent "dissatisfied," 3 percent "satisfied" and 2 percent "enthusiastic." It was nearly flipped among Republican primary voters, with 61 percent saying they were "enthusiastic" about the president, 26 percent "satisfied," 6 percent "dissatisfied" and 6 percent "angry."

This is a developing story, please refresh here for updates.