good evening I'm John Yang on this Sunday before the New Hampshire primary the Republican
Presidential field has narrowed late this afternoon Florida Governor Ron de santis
ended his candidacy and endorsed Donald Trump he made the announcement on X the platform formerly
known as Twitter it's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald
Trump another chance why I've had disagreements with Donald Trump such as on the Corona virus
pandemic and his elevation of Anthony fouchy Trump is super ior to the current incumbent Joe
Biden this makes the contest for the Republican Presidential nomination a two-person race former
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is the only other competitor than Trump Lisa de jardan has
been in New Hampshire for the last few days right now she's in Hampton New Hampshire Lisa I know
this happened relatively late but I also know you probably working the phone since it happened what
does this do to the race well if you ask former president Trump and reporters did ask him a short
time ago what this means characteristically former president Trump said he had the votes regardless
but for Nikki Haley while some of her supporters say this gives her an opportunity to win over some
new voters the truth is uh talking to those in her Inner Circle they do believe that most of
D sanz's voters will go with former president Trump however they want to see any bump they
can because here in New Hampshire while right now I'm told by those close to Nikki Haley that they
think she will come in second uh the margin will m matter the closer she can get to former president
Trump here the longer she has in this campaign the more of a chance they say uh she can prove
herself in South Carolina so how much does it matter it is probably a matter of margins and it
might be a small one because really in the end of this John that's the reason disantis is dropping
out his margins of support here in New Hampshire and going forward in South Carolina were small
uh and it's not clear he had the money despite initially uh having tens of millions of dollars
at his disposal a super pack with over a hundred million this campaign imploded and it's not clear
that even has big enough margins to really make a massive difference in the campaign ahead for
those who are left let's talk about the Dynamics of the campaign how does this change campaigning
and the message perhaps for both Nikki Haley uh and Donald Trump moving ahead moving forward after
New Hampshire well for former president Trump he already is trying to focus on South Carolina for
a couple of reasons that's because New Hampshire is his most competitive State maybe the last place
that he faces any kind of real competition if you ask him and those around him in fact uh
we went to a rally last night here in Manchester New Hampshire uh the he introduced officials from
South Carolina there but what I noticed that was important John was the size of the crowd I did an
actual head count and I counted over 4,100 people that's significant because in that same venue four
years ago I saw 12,000 people come out for Donald Trump now he has more events this year and that
but there could be an enthusiasm question for him going ahead and when you ask Trump voters what
they care about it is the Border some cultural issues like transgender but above it all is the
economy I knew right from the beginning because he has such great business end that he would make a
great leader and he did his opponents say there is a great risk in that he brings chaos some people
seem as divisive we're in chaos right now right we have you know the the cost of living is going up
incredibly there's violence and Chaos everywhere now the leadest FBI statistics newly out from
last year actually show that violent crime is down last year and in fact we have been below
pre pandemic levels murder itself is plummeting in the United States so this idea is out of Step
it's a disconnect with the reality right now as far as crime and and especially in in most cities
in America now as for the cost of living also new statistics there John show that inflation
has been improving it is still around 3 to 4% but it's dramatically down from 2022 when we saw the
7 8% levels it's still higher than the Federal Reserve wants 2% and I will tell you people are
still feeling that though whether the levels are going down here I just spoke to someone in a bar
uh just I can see right across the way told me he spent $110 to fill up his gas tank and that is one
reason he plans to vote for Donald Trump so all of this is issues about for Joe Biden must face
but also issues for Nikki Harry speaking of Joe Biden there is a Democratic primary on Tuesday
but President Biden is not on the ballot why is that and who is on the ballot let me explain the
calendar here because this is incredibly unusual first of all the Democratic party announced their
schedule that they approved for the Democrats for their primaries putting South Carolina First that
was something President Biden Endor February 3rd and then they were going to have uh Nevada and New
Hampshire on February 6th after that followed by Michigan and then later on super Tuesday well New
Hampshire has a law saying it has to be the first Primary in the country rejected the Democratic
party's dates and instead decided to move their own primary up to where it is now on January 23rd
as punishment John uh the Democratic National Party said it will withhold delegates from the
state of New Hampshire uh and uh President Biden made the decision not to appear on the ballot
at all so some of his allies in this state are starting on their own a volunteer effort to write
him in the ballot has uh almost two dozen names on it so people must write him in at the bottom
trying to Edge him out in this state is Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips seems like a long shot
but I got to tell you the first surprise I've had on this campaign Trail was an event he just
had where he had a true surge of people we'll see if they come out and if he has a chance to upset
a right in Joe Biden on Tuesday a week ago Lisa you were talking to voters in Iowa where turnout
it turned out was was relatively low how did the the feeling and the mood you're hearing
in New Hampshire compared to what you heard in in Iowa it is almost night and day still cold
but much more excitement here you see yard signs all around the state and if you just walk into
any restaurant you talk to someone at a coffee shop or at a gas station they're tuned in and
they're planning to vote in Iowa most people you talk to were not tuned in and were not planning
to vote they had a snowstorm but it felt like it was more than that there so more excitement here
I'd say or at least people uh planning to vote more than in Iowa Lisa de jardan the excitement
in New Hampshire thank you very much
you're welcome
and Lisa will be reporting from New
Hampshire for Tuesday night's live coverage of the primary starting at 11:00 p.m. Eastern here on PBS