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Trump and Haley Face Off in New Hampshire GOP Primary; New Hampshire Voters Head to Polls for First-in-the-Nation Primary; Biden Not on New Hampshire Ballot After Democrat Fight Over Primary Calendar. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 23, 2024 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We're continuing our special coverage of the first in the nation primary in New Hampshire. I'm Wolf Blitzer in New York.

Right now, polls are open in parts of the Granite State. The Republican race for the White House began with a very crowded field but has slowly narrowed down to the final two, talking about Nikki Haley and Donald Trump.

Haley has been out doing some last minute campaigning this morning and promising voters that New Hampshire is not the end of the road for her campaign.

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NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I didn't get here because of luck. I got here because I outworked and outsmarted all the rest of those fellows. So, I'm running against Donald Trump. And I'm not going to talk about an obituary just because you all think we have to talk about it. I'm going to talk about running the tape and saving this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: There's certainly a lot more at stake today than the 22 Republican delegates up for grabs. Survival is the goal for Nikki Haley, while Team Trump is hoping another landslide win will pave the way to the top of the Republican ticket.

John Berman, Sara Sidner, Kate Bolduan are all continuing our live coverage from Manchester, New Hampshire this morning. John, go ahead.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I was just going to say, look, we are watching people voting at the polls right now. We've been here talking to people, Sara, and it's great to see people out experiencing democracy answering some of the questions people have about this race. SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The former governor is here at Chez Vachon with us, as are some of the best food, and he'll be joining us shortly.

But talking to different people, it's interesting to hear what they have to say, because, you know, this is known as a place where people have very independent minds. They think through all of these things.

BERMAN: Live free or die.

SIDNER: Live free or die, very serious. And Nikki Haley keeps using that over and over and over again, so she knows the language of the place.

But it's interesting to see the energy that is behind her right now with the governor. But the numbers are difficult. The numbers from polling are very difficult for her, and she knows that. But it's been really, really cool to kind of see the way that she's moving through New Hampshire one after the other, after the other. She's still going and will go until the voting ends.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Part of the unpredictability that we won't know until we know is where turnout is. I mean, the secretary of state had predicted record-breaking turnout for the Republican primary, 322,000 voters in the Republican primary.

I think you've had some kind of suggestion from some people you've spoken to today on our show that maybe it's not going to hit that point. But I was talking to former Senator Judd Gregg yesterday. He said this secretary of state is better than anybody at predicting the outcome. So, this turnout is -- this is the X factor because high turnout, one would tend to think, would help Nikki Haley.

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BERMAN: Yes. The Haley campaign thinks that turnout will help them because a higher turnout would tend to think would help Nikki Haley because a higher turnout would generally have to come from those undeclared voters.

New Hampshire you have Democrats, you have Republicans, and you have undeclared, which are sort of the independents and they can vote in either primary. Nikki Haley is obviously campaigning towards those.

The secretary of state foreseeing a record turnout. Remember, Iowa, the turnout was down, substantially down. The question is, was it the freezing weather there that drove it down. I really am waiting to see what happens here in New Hampshire, not just because of what it means for Nikki Haley, but because of what it might mean for the broader presidential race going forward.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, that's a great point, when we head out of New Hampshire into South Carolina and everywhere else.

BERMAN: All right, let's get to the ground right now. Kylie Atwood is in Hampton where she's been following Nikki Haley out on the trail. Alayna Treene is in Nashua down by the Massachusetts border. That is where Donald Trump, I think, has his campaign event tonight.

Kylie, let's start with you chasing around Nikki Haley. What's on her mind this morning?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She's determined. She came out here. This was the first polling site that she visited here in Hampton, New Hampshire this morning.

And she responded to those comments from former President Trump just yesterday, saying that she's probably going to drop out today by saying that she doesn't listen to Trump, that she's never listened to what Trump tells her to do, saying that she's going to run the tape here in New Hampshire. She's going to try and get every single vote that she can. We know she has a busy day today. She's going to go to multiple polling locations across the state and that she is determined to go to South Carolina after that.

Now, of course, it all really does depend on what happens here in New Hampshire for her. And we've talked to voters today who are voting for both Nikki Haley and former President Trump. One of those voters that I spoke with today said that he's voting for Trump because he believes that Trump was a good leader, that he did good things for the country. He wants to go back to a Trump presidency. Listen to what he said.

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NATHAN RITZO, VOTED FOR DONALD TRUMP: Four years, our economy was turned around, our military was once again respected, our country was once again respected. There's a guy over here with gas, it's at $1.87.

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ATWOOD: Now, he's not the only one who's talking about gas prices. I can just show you over here, there's a bunch of signs here, a lot of Trump signs here at this polling location. You see one sign that says gas $1.87. That man who we just spoke to, he showed me a picture on his phone that he had taken in 2020 when Trump was president. It showed that gas prices were within $1.87. So, that's where he's headed to support Trump.

But, of course, Nikki Haley is saying that even though the political establishment might be with Trump, she believes that voters are going to be for her, but that's all going to be tested today.

BERMAN: I got to say, one thing to note is that there was a pandemic, which people might remember in 2020. Gas prices were low, because no one was leaving their house. No one was driving in their cars. Cars were collecting dust all over them. So, that may not be the most apples to apples measurement you could have, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, let's go ahead and thank you so much, Kylie.

Let's go to Alayna Treene, who is in Nashua for us. What are you hearing from voters there as they are going to the polls? And we will see if they go to the polls in record numbers. ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right, well I can tell you, we've actually seen -- I've spoke with some election officials here. They've had more than 500 people, and I think it's already increased, come through this polling station today, and the polls opened at 6:00 A.M., so they're expecting to see a lot of people come through this location.

But, listen, when I talked to voters, I grabbed a lot of them as they exited the polling location here in Nashua, and the majority of them actually told me that they are planning to vote for Nikki Haley, people who had voted for Biden in the past, but also people who had voted for Trump in the past. They told me that they think that, you know, they voted for Donald Trump before, and now they think that it's time for a new person, a new leader to be in the White House. Take a listen to what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Who did you vote for today?

DOUG BRENNER, VOTED FOR NIKKI HALEY: Nikki Haley.

TREENE: Nikki Haley. Can I ask why?

BRENNER: I think she has the best chance of going against Biden, yes. So, I was a Trump supporter for many years and now I'm a Haley fan.

TREENE: What made you switch your support from Trump to Haley?

BRENNER: Youth, I'm looking for youth.

TREENE: Okay. And are there any attributes specific to Haley that you really like about her or things that you dislike after having voted for Trump in the past?

BRENNER: I'm just not sure where -- I think it's time for a change. I mean, military, you have to retire at 65, and surgeons don't operate at that age. I think it's time for a younger generation.

TREENE: What made you change your mind away from Trump to Haley?

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RYAN OWENS, VOTED FOR NIKKI HALEY: Trump brings a lot of chaos that I think I'm just kind of tired of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, you can see there both of these voters, different reasons for switching their support from Donald Trump. One was about age really being a concern, the other saying that Trump brings chaos.

But I think those interviews, it's really interesting. It highlights just what New Hampshire is like. It's a very different state. There's a lot of independent voters here. And people are changing their minds. Past Trump supporters are not necessarily Trump supporters today. So, I think that's all going to be taken into account when we look at what happens later, particularly when it comes to margins, something I know from my conversations with the Trump campaign is something they're watching for very closely here.

SIDNER: Alayna Treene, Kylie Atwood.

I think is really interesting to know that the people that she just talked to are literally parroting exactly what Nikki Haley has been saying on the campaign trail, chaos and age, over and over and over.

BOLDUAN: It's like a chicken and the egg thing, though, right? Are they saying it because they've heard it from the candidate they support or she's saying because she's hearing it from voters and what they want to hear?

SIDNER: It's a good point. All right, back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Sara, thanks very much.

I want to bring in CNN Senior Political Commentator Scott Jennings, CNN Political Analyst and Historian Leah Wright Rigueur and CNN Political Commentator Maria Cardona.

Scott, I'm curious, what are you watching for specifically today?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: How many independents actually vote? It's a semi-open primary. I think the record is like 40 percent, which we saw back in 2012. Some folks on the ground think it could get as high as 45 percent.

There is a theory that if they are more behavioral Democrats, Haley will get some of those. But there are some Trump campaign folks who think that some of these independents may just be unaffiliated folks who don't like either party but do like Donald Trump because they view him as sort of outside the normal political system. So, specifically, independent share of the overall electorate.

BLITZER: You know, Leah, these undeclared voters in New Hampshire can pull ballots in either primary. How much will today's GOP results come down to them, from your perspective?

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND HISTORIAN: Well, I think they'll have outsized influence on the GOP results, but I don't think that they'll have outsized influence necessarily in the way that we would imagine.

Right now, it is apparent that Donald Trump is going to win the primary in New Hampshire, but what they may do is send a signal to this larger ecosystem about the kind of state of the general election, meaning that I'm going to be watching and seeing if these independents, if these moderates, if these people who are in this kind of really unique position, if they are polling for Trump or if they're polling for Nikki Haley.

Most likely, they will be breaking for Nikki Haley. And one of the things that that signals is that while Donald Trump has the base of the Republican Party locked up and that Trumpism is the ideology of the base of the Republican Party, it's not something that the rest of the country wants or is interested in.

So, what that means is that, for Donald Trump, the path to the presidency is much, much harder than it was in 2020 or even 2016.

BLITZER: Yes, important points. And, Maria Cardona, what do you think Democrats will be specifically looking at in the results as they come in tonight?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that what they're going to be looking at is the margins. And I don't even want to say the margin of victory for Donald Trump because I also think what's really interesting here is that while everyone is saying, yes, Donald Trump will win, that's what the polls are showing, he's got an overwhelming advantage, no one is outright saying that there is an impossibility that Haley can pull something out of New Hampshire, because, historically, New Hampshire loves to give us surprises, and specifically it's because all of these independent, non-affiliated voters. And so we're going to be looking for that.

And if Nikki Haley wins, we were just talking about this earlier, it will be a tectonic shift. Does that mean she has a path to the nomination? Probably not, because as we move into Super Tuesday, all of those states become winner-take-all and it'll be very tough mathematically to catch up to Donald Trump.

But -- so what Democrats will be looking at is the margin. What does that mean? If the margin is large in terms of Donald Trump's victory, then, clearly, I think he has it -- you know, he's going to put it away. But if Haley is close and you look at how many independent voters, how many unaffiliated voters there are, it is going to point to a deficit and I think a weakness in Donald Trump's electorate or his supporters that we really aren't talking a whole lot about today.

And if you go back to look at what happened in Iowa, you know, yes, he won overwhelmingly, percentage-wise, but almost half of Iowa voters who voted in the caucuses did not vote for him and the turnout was also really awful. And so I think all of those things point to perhaps weaknesses within Trump's support that we're going to be looking at.

BLITZER: All right. Scott, I want to get your reaction to something that Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire, and a Nikki Haley supporter, said earlier. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): When it comes to Republicans, we're tired of losing. We're tired of losing.

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We lost in '18 and '20. We're going to get that big red wave in '22. Hey, Donald Trump, where the F is the red wave? Give me a break.

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BLITZER: Let me get your reaction, what do you think?

JENNINGS: Absolutely true. I mean, Donald Trump's never gotten more votes than a Democrat. And when he's been the central issue on the ballot, Republicans have lost or underperformed. In this particular election, it seems like Republican primary voters, though, have settled on something more visceral, which is the idea that Joe Biden is going to lose to anybody. And so the most satisfying or euphoric vindication would be to have him lose to Donald Trump.

So, what he is saying is correct. I'm just not certain enough Republicans are listening to it right now.

BLITZER: It's interesting, Maria, because Nikki Haley has been hitting the age issue very, very hard in recent days. Listen to this.

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HALEY: Do you want two 80-year-olds running for president? I mean, seriously, in the military, you have to retire at 65. You know, you don't have surgeons doing surgery at 80. There's multiple things. It's just a fact that people start to decline.

And when you've got a country in disarray and a world on fire, the way we do, you need someone at the top of their head that can put in eight years that can go and get things back on track. That's what this is about, is making sure that we have the best person, not settling for the fact that, you know, two 80-year-olds running for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARDONA: You know, that's an argument she's been making, but, clearly, the people on her side are not buying it, not listening to her. And I think what you've seen recently is she's pointing to the gaffes that Donald Trump has been making and pointing to the lack of his mental acuity when he called her or thought she was Nancy Pelosi, when he thought he ran against Obama, when he talked about Joe Biden starting World War II.

So, all of those things, I think, point to what we haven't really talked a lot about, which is Donald Trump's lack of mental acuity, the fact that he could be losing it, even though the other side likes to point to a lot of those things for Joe Biden, but it seems to be that Donald Trump is the one who has been demonstrating it a lot more.

BLITZER: Leah, give me your thought.

RIGUEUR: So, I think a lot of the candidates like to point to, or at least a lot of the Republican primary candidates like to point to age, but one of the things that we know is that the American public, even though they say they want somebody young, overwhelmingly, time and time again, when it comes down to their choices, they will go with experience and, quote/unquote, wisdom, which often means they end up choosing the older candidate. Think Ronald Reagan, right? Think Joe Biden, think Donald Trump. So, I don't necessarily know if the age argument is one that is going to stick. It's certainly not sticking within the Republican party. Where it is sticking, I think, for Nikki Haley, as part of this larger argument that she makes about stability in the midst of chaos and what I think works amongst independents is this argument about eight more years, right?

Trump can only be president for four more years. That's it. Eight more years with somebody younger, somebody more stable, less chaos, less anarchy, more direction.

BLITZER: Two terms, Leah Wright-Rigueur, Maria Cardona, Scott Jennings, guys, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, much more of our special live coverage of New Hampshire's primary. We're going to hear from more GOP voters who are deciding if Donald Trump or Nikki Haley should take on President Biden in November.

Plus, other important news we're following, the U.S. and the U.K. are now working to cut off money flowing to Houthi rebels after launching another round of strikes against targets in Yemen.

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BLITZER: Welcome back to our special live coverage of the first in the nation New Hampshire primary. Almost all of the polls are now open. You're looking at live pictures, by the way, coming in from Nashua right now, as voters there are picking a Republican nominee to take on President Biden in the general election. And it's down now to Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.

The former president is looking for another resounding win after his first place finish in the Iowa caucuses, while the former South Carolina governor is hoping to deliver a huge upset.

My colleague, Kate Bolduan, is in Manchester, New Hampshire for us. Kate, update our viewers.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Thanks so much, Wolf. So, there is -- not only are we watching at the polls, most of them are open at this hour for what's going to happen in the Republican primary. There's also a Democratic primary happening today. And President Biden is not actually on the ballot.

So, Democrats have been running a write-in campaign for him instead. And this all comes after a fight, a dispute, if you will, between New Hampshire state officials and the DNC over the state's first-in-the- nation primary status. That's kind of a brief summary of what's been kind of a messy, messy dispute.

Joining me right now to talk more about all of this is the former Democratic governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch. Governor, thank you. You've been sitting with me for a bit. This has been really nice to catch up.

Let's start and talk about the Democratic primary. I have heard you say -- I think you said it was a mistake for the DNC to do what it did and a mistake for Joe Biden to not put his name on the ballot regardless. What impact, though, do you think these decisions could have?

FMR. GOV. JOHN H. LYNCH (D-NH): Well, I don't think it's going to have any impact on our First in the Nation status. I'm very disappointed, dismayed, and frustrated with what the DNC did along with the White House.

We've had first-in-the-nation primary going back a hundred years, and we take it very, very seriously. The people get out, they get to meet the candidates, they look the candidates in the eyes, they care not only about the candidates' policies, but their temperament as well.

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So, we're going to continue with our first-in-the-nation primary for the next hundred years, regardless of what the DNC, the RNC, the White House or future White Houses make decisions about.

BOLDUAN: One of the leaders of the write-in campaign, I saw put it this way, division is Donald Trump's best friend. And campaigns are about momentum. Yes, it is widely expected Joe Biden will win the Democratic primary here in New Hampshire. But is this dividing Democrats? Do you -- does it -- are you concerned about what this looks like, if turnout is low for Democrats because of what you're seeing, what we're talking about here? Does that concern you about the message it sends kind of as you propel forward into the general?

LYNCH: I think most Democrats who are voting, they're upset, like I am, about the dismissal of New Hampshire's first-in-nation primary status. But like me, they all are stepping back and saying, you know, what's best for New Hampshire and what's best for the country? They are petrified of the prospect of Donald Trump being elected again as president. And I think they all believe that the best way to avoid that is by electing Joe Biden, nominating him and getting him elected.

I do believe that Biden is going to do pretty well here in New Hampshire. I don't have a percentage in mind. But the other thing that's important is that I think he'll do well in the general election here. And we have four electoral votes, but our votes matter. We're a purple state. People forget that when Al Gore ran in 2000, Al Gore lost New Hampshire because of Ralph Nader being on the ballot. If Al Gore had won New Hampshire, he would have been elected president of the United States. So, our four votes matter.

BOLDUAN: Don't dismiss New Hampshire. That is a message from the former governor.

The secretary of state has predicted record historic turn up for the Republican primary, saying it could be something like 32,000 votes in the Republican primary. When you hear that, what's your reaction to those kinds of numbers, Governor? LYNCH: I'm delighted. New Hampshire historically has high turnout. I think because there's a Republican contest right now, I think independents, which tend to sway one way or the other, and that's our biggest market segment, obviously, with 40 percent of the electorate, if many of them vote Republican, that's going to obviously help with the Republican turnout.

And I want everybody to vote. I don't really care who they vote for, whether they're Republican or Democrat. I think it says a lot for New Hampshire that we have a good turnout.

BOLDUAN: One thing that we -- that both of the candidates on the Republican side, Nikki Haley and Donald Trump, have said is their best against Donald Trump -- Nikki Haley -- best against Joe Biden. Nikki Haley touts a Wall Street Journal poll that says that she would beat Joe Biden by up to 17 points.

From your perspective, you would like to see Joe Biden win another term, of course, who concerns you more?

LYNCH: I think Joe Biden can beat either of them. And I don't believe in polls either. When Hillary was running against Barack in 2008, the polls all showed Barack Obama winning by 15 points, 15 points. I did the media circuit that day as governor. And people would ask me, do I think Biden -- I mean, Obama can get 20 percent lead over Hillary. And Hillary won. And that was the polling that took place the day before. So, I don't have a lot of stock in polls.

BOLDUAN: Talk to me about undeclareds. I mean, as we know, we well know they can pull either ballot. What is your sense that you're hearing from your contacts? I mean, are there still New Hampshire voters that haven't yet decided before they walked in today, do you think?

LYNCH: Yes. I do have a number of friends who are independents or undeclared and I have asked them who they're voting for, and they say, they don't know really. They're going to make up their mind when they go to the polling place.

That's not unusual, by the way. I mean, people tend to make up their mind at the last minute. So, I do think it's a big unknown in terms of how the independent vote is going to go.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Governor, it's great to see you. Thanks for coming in.

LYNCH: Thanks for coming to our great state of New Hampshire.

BOLDUAN: Happy primary day, Governor.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: All right, thank you. We're following the pivotal primary in New Hampshire right now. What's pushing voters as they decide between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley?

Plus, we'll take a closer look at what needs to happen today for Nikki Haley to keep her campaign on a possible path to the White House.

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