Donald Trump suffers huge vote against him in New Mexico primary

Despite winning the New Mexico Republican presidential primary with 84.5% of the vote, Donald Trump saw nearly 15% of voters, over 15,000 votes, go against him, including support for Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, and "uncommitted" votes, Newsweek reports. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

Donald Trump has seen a significant number of votes go against him in the New Mexico Republican presidential primary.

While Trump still dominated the race, winning the primary with 84.5 percent of the vote, there was still nearly 15 percent of voters that went against the former president, amounting to more than 15,000 votes.

This includes 8.6 percent of the vote going to former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race in March, as well as 2.6 percent for former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who dropped out in January.

There were also an additional 3.3 percent for "uncommitted," amounting to more than 3,100 votes in the New Mexico primary.

The Context

There have been frequent warning signs that Trump is struggling to win over Republican voters beyond his MAGA base, even after he became the presumptive 2024 presidential candidate.

Haley, seen as a more moderate Republican candidate, dropped out of the race in March in the wake of Super Tuesday, but is still pulling out votes from Trump in the primaries. Examples include the former South Carolina governor receiving 20 percent of the vote in Maryland, or more than 47,500 votes, and 21.7 percent in Indiana, a total of more than 128,000 votes.

Haley also received more than 100,000 votes in the key swing states of Pennsylvania and Arizona and nearly 300,000 in Michigan, another battleground state who could help determine who will win the 2024 election between Trump and President Joe Biden.

Numerous polls have suggested there is no guarantee Republicans who vote for Haley in the primary will go on to back Trump in November, with Biden himself openly attempting to persuade Haley supporters to come over to the Democratic side to stop Trump re-entering the White House.

What We Know

Trump continued his domination in the GOP primary season on Tuesday, winning in New Mexico as well as automatically winning the uncontested race in South Dakota.

Elsewhere, Trump won the primary in New Jersey with 98 percent of the vote, with "write in" candidates getting two percent of the vote.

In Montana, Trump won the primary with more than 90 percent of the vote, with "no preference" also receiving 9.4 percent of the vote, amounting to more than 13,000 ballots.

Tuesday's results were also the first GOP primary races to take place since Trump became the first current or former president in U.S. history to be convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony falsifying business records charges on May 30.

Despite talks about whether Haley voters will go on to back Trump or Biden come November, Haley herself confirmed she will be voting for Trump as the Democratic incumbent has been a "catastrophe" in office.

During a talk at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, in late May, Haley said that it would be "smart" for Trump to reach out to the millions of people who voted and still support her, and "not assume that they're just going to be with him."

Trump's office has been contacted for comment via email.

Views

Historian and writer Varad Mehta wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "You'd think Nikki Haley would be doing better than [8.6 percent] in New Mexico five days after Trump was found guilty if she really had the huge base of support the media has been insisting for the last two months that she does."

Mike Madrid, GOP political consultant and co-founder of the anti-Trump Super PAC The Lincoln Project, said: "Trump is losing 15 percent of the Republican vote in New Mexico—the only state with Haley/Christie on the ballot.

"If this holds it shows the beginning of the consolidation of the Republican vote BUT a relatively large & stubborn group of GOP holdouts. Not good news for Trump."

What's Next

The Republican National Convention, where Trump will be confirmed as the 2024 nominee, will take place in Milwaukee in July.