Here’s some early returns that show why Hillary Clinton is losing badly to Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire. In Lempster, a small town in the western part of the state, near the Vermont border, Sanders won 77 to 22 percent. Eight years ago Barack Obama beat Clinton there by only a 40 to 35 percent margin, with 18 percent for John Edwards.
There’s a similar trend in Manchester’s largest city, Manchester. With 10 of 12 wards in, Sanders is leading Clinton 55 to 41 percent. In 2008 Clinton carried Manchester 45 to 30 percent over Obama, with 16 percent for Edwards. This year even in a two-candidate race, Clinton could not equal her 2008 percentage. Possible explanation: the exit poll showed that 32 percent of Democratic voters cast their vote on the basis of honesty, and that they split 93 to 5 percent for Sanders. Clinton has an honesty problem now that she didn’t have eight years ago and which seems to be costing her votes. Which might be true in a general election as it certainly was in New Hampshire today.
