KEENE, N.H. — Thursday’s Republican primary debate was a powerful reminder that many Granite State voters will wait until the eleventh hour to decide whom to support in the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.
“There’s none that stood out,” concluded Kathy Habiby, who joined ten other Republican voters for a debate watch party at a local country club.
“It’s just going to be a last-minute thing for me,” she added. “I’m vacillating between a couple of them, but I haven’t got my mind totally made up yet.”
Despite the slew of candidates who’ve visited the state ahead of its fast-approaching nominating contest, John Therriault, who serves as vice chairman of the Cheshire County Republican Committee, claims a significant portion of his members remain undecided.
“Most people, in this group at least, are political junkies – we go visit all the candidates when they come and try and make up our minds. But even among us political junkies, a lot of people don’t finalize their decision until a week before, maybe the day before,” Therriault told the Washington Examiner.
Two other voters, who declined to be named but watched the debate alongside Therriault and Habiby, also indicated they have yet to determine which candidate will earn their vote.
The only voter in the room whose mind was firmly made up was Malia Boaz, a 65-year-old conservative activist from nearby Westmoreland.
Pointing to the TV screen, Boaz said, “there isn’t any candidate on that stage who I wouldn’t vote for.” For now, however, she’s backing front-runner Donald Trump, who she likened to Paul Revere.
“He’s raising the flag up and he’s right,” Boaz said. “As simple as I can put it, he says something and he doesn’t back down. lt’s time for someone in this country to have the voice of the American people and he does.”
When asked whether Trump’s previous support for a handful of liberal policies would ever lead her to back another candidate, Boaz seemed forgiving.
“Do you know, I was a staunch Democrat at your age,” she said. “Who am I to judge if he’s changed on certain issues?”
Trump and a handful of other Republican hopefuls, are set to arrive in New Hampshire Friday, hoping to attract further support using any momentum they may have gained Thursday evening.
