Exit polls: New Hampshire Democrats trust Sanders

New Hampshire voters headed to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the first primaries of the 2016 election season.

Sanders, a secular Jew and self-described democratic socialist who has made economic inequality in America the centerpiece of his campaign, had been the favorite to win in New Hampshire, and in last week’s Iowa caucuses he almost tied Clinton.

But despite Clinton’s long history of campaigning in the state, Sanders broke away from Clinton, leading in the polls for months and outspending Clinton on New Hampshire television commercials in recent weeks.

Trump did very well among Republican New Hampshire primary voters who want to see illegal immigrants deported: 46 percent voted for him. All the way at the bottom, barely registering a blip was former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore with less than a percent of the vote. Rubio, a senator from Florida, was second at 17%, followed by Ted Cruz, a conservative Texas senator, at 14%, and Ohio Governor John Kasich at 10%, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.

After finishing behind Cruz in Iowa last week, Trump embraced some of the more traditional trappings of presidential campaigns, including smaller town hall events with voters. State-wide results were not due till Tuesday night.

New Hampshire voters are fiercely independent and in past elections, turnout has been fairly high in the “Granite State” – tonight was no exception. He told supporters that instead of going to SC, he’ll head home to “take a deep breath” and take stock of his struggling presidential bid. He disputed Clinton’s notion that he had an advantage over her simply because he is a USA senator in the neighboring state of Vermont.

On the Democratic side, Sanders held a strong poll lead over former secretary of state Clinton.

Not many New Hampshire voters are identifying as Independent.

After New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie knocked Rubio for delivering repetitive remarks, the senator’s events have been dogged by protesters dressed as robots holding signs with slogans like “Marco Roboto” and “Rubio Talking Points 3000”.

Hillary Clinton used her concession speech to rally her supporters.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump answers a question during a campaign stop at an Elks Lodge in Salem, N.H., Monday, Feb. 8, 2016.

Still, Democrats who went to the polls Tuesday – to vote in a race featuring two seasoned politicians – were more apt than Republicans to say they wanted the next president to have experience in politics, only about one-quarter said they preferred a president from outside the political establishment.

“Thank you, New Hampshire!”

Iowa was entirely too close for comfort and New Hampshire was never a race that Hillary was going to win.

By winning Tuesday, Trump will take the lead in the race for delegates for the Republican National Convention.

Sanders, once labeled a “fringe candidate” by his detractors, received majority support from younger voters and was narrowly favored by women.

New Hampshire showed voter anger is for real, but it seemed unlikely to give much clarity to the search for a strong establishment alternative to Trump.