CONCORD, N.H. — Bernie Sanders, the progressive Vermont senator, did what even Barack Obama couldn’t do: He defeated Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, just a week after nearly tying Clinton in Iowa.
Sanders carried the Granite State primary by a double-digit margin according to exit polls, buoyed by young voters, who voted overwhelmingly for the progressive populist, and driven by a pledge to take back politics from “special interests” and “billionaires.”
“Tonight we serve notice to the political and economic establishment of this country,” Sanders said at his raucous victory party in the gym of Concord High School, “that the American people will not continue to accept a corrupt campaign finance system that is undermining American democracy, and we will not accept a rigged economy.”
“He’s inspiring,” said college-aged Olivia Galvin at a Sanders rally in Manchester Monday. This was Galvin’s first time voting, and she said Sanders’ message of battling Wall Street’s power “helps young people feel empowered. That it’s not as corrupt.”
Sanders dominated the youth vote, according to exit polls, carrying 85 percent of the under-30 vote, and 72 percent of the under-40 vote.
Sanders is most famous as being the most radically progressive member of the U.S. Senate, and that appealed to voters in New Hampshire. One fourth of the electorate described itself as “very liberal,” and Sanders won that vote by 30 points.
“Bernie is the one who best reflects progressive ideals,” Steve Rosenfeld said before a Monday Sanders rally in Nashua.
“He’ll work for us lower-income people,” said Tony, a state employee who voted for Sanders in Concord. “By breaking up the 1 percent,” said Andrew Farris, a student at Southern New Hampshire University who voted for Sanders in Manchester, “taxing them more, regulating the big banks, we’ll generally get more money available for everyone to use.”
Sanders also benefited from distaste for Hillary Clinton, seen by some portion of the Democratic electorate as calculating, corporatist and too “establishment.” “I do not trust Hillary Clinton,” said Kaiyn DaSilva, a sophomore Franklin Pierce University who voted for Sanders. DaSilva points to her changed views on gay marriage, and said, “Everyone is seeing that she hasn’t been trustworthy her entire career.”
The Republican National Committee said Clinton’s defeat is a direct result of the FBI investigation into her email practices when she was secretary of state.
“It’s clear that the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s reckless conduct as Secretary of State has become a massive liability for her campaign and that even Democrats find her dishonesty and hypocrisy unacceptable,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said. “The prospect that Democrats could nominate a self-avowed socialist is growing more probable by the day, and shows how off course Hillary Clinton’s coronation has gone.”
With only about 80 of 4,712 delegates assigned after Iowa and New Hampshire, Sanders’ win is valuable mostly for its symbolism — it establishes him as a true competitor against Clinton, whom many experts had considered inevitable and invincible.
New Hampshire, bordering on Sanders’ Vermont, may prove to be one of the easiest states for Sanders to win. In South Carolina, which holds its primary Feb. 27, more than half of the Democratic primary electorate was African-American in 2008. Sanders generally polls poorly with black voters. South Carolina polls last month showed Clinton beating Sanders by more than 20 points.
Nevada holds a caucus February 20. There are no recent polls, but the caucus format plays to Sanders’ strengths.
