The nation’s first primary was held in New Hampshire and expectations were running very high for Donald Trump, but Nikki Haley is still hanging around.

The closing polls showed the former president with a substantial double-digit lead.

The Boston Globe had Trump with a 22% lead over Haley at 60-38.

Trafalgar had the same margin with Trump pulling 58% support and Haley 36%.

The Washington Post had it a bit closer with Trump’s lead only 18 points with a 52-34 advantage.

Heading into New Hampshire, Joe Biden was not even on the ballot because of the Democrats playing games with the primary schedule this year and giving an opening to Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips. In a strange, almost surreal effort at the very last minute, the Biden team launched a write-in campaign after previously saying it didn’t matter to them that he would miss the Granite State.

So, how did the race turn out on the red card? With about 91% of the precincts in and counted, Donald Trump has 55% of the vote and Nikki Haley caught 43% of the ballots cast, meaning it’s a double-digit win for Trump, but not nearly as dominating as polls were leading up to the contest where some like the Boston Globe had him winning by 22.
 
And the reactions were strong as the numbers rolled in.

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel says it’s time for everyone to get behind Trump heading into November. Joe Biden feels the same way, but didn’t say so himself. His people sent a prewritten response exclusively to Rachel Maddow of all people. It’s so sad it’s almost funny that she was chosen to deliver an official presidential statement. At least this exclusive was real, unlike her proof of Russian collusion.

Trump addressed supporters after the win, promising to beat Joe Biden in November because “Who the hell can’t beat Joe Biden? He can’t put two sentences together.”

Now it’s off to Nevada and South Carolina. Haley may stick around to see if she can win on her home turf, but all the smart money is on a Biden-Trump rematch.