Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and Republican candidate Donald Trump have won the New Hampshire primary, according to the the Associated Press and NBC news. Early exit polls had suggested that Sanders and Trump could secure victories with big margins.
According to the Washington Post, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton conceded defeat before voting finished, as Sanders claimed victory while urging people to continue voting.
Exit polls showed Sanders secured more than 85%of the vote among young people in the state compared to 14% for Clinton.
Among young women, 82 percent of women aged 18-29 voted for Sanders which proves that the leftist candidate is popular among women despite efforts by the Clinton campaign to claim that category.
As he congratulated Clinton for her strong campaign in New Hampshire, Sanders stressed the “right-wing Republican can not be allowed to rule this country.”
Sanders als0 said that he was proud not to have a super PAC (Political Action Committees used to collect large donations). The self-described dmocratic socialist said: “I don't want a super PAC.”
The government of the United States, according to Sanders, “belongs to all of the people and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors and their super PACs.”
Meanwhile, Clinton, who called Sanders to congratulate him on his victory, acknowledged that she had lost among young people.
Meanwhile, Think Progress website reported that several students were turned back at voting stations because they could not provide an ID or a proof of residence.
Voting rights organisers say this was part of the state's newly implemented voter ID law which created confusion, long lines, and cases of voter suppression — especially impacting New Hampshire's younger voters.
Meanwhile, Trump made a victory speech where he accused Sanders of wanting to “give away the country” over his economic policies.
“Congratulations to Bernie in all fairness. But I heard parts of Bernie's speech — he wants to give away the country!” the billionaire candidate told his supporters during his winning speech. “We want to make America great again, but we're going to do it the old-fashioned way. We're going to beat China and Japan.”
On jobs, Trump said he would “be the greatest jobs president that god ever created. Remember that.” In his strongest comment yet on foreign policy, he said “we're gonna knock the hell outta ISIS”.
Meanwhile, exit polls also showed that 66% of Republican voters back a “ban on Muslims from entering the US”.
This idea was raise by the real estate billionaire Trump, who months ago proposed a temporary ban on foreign Muslims entering the country until “we figure out what the hell is going on”.
[Abridged from TeleSUR English.]