promote a war. trump has pushed that about her, but clearly what you see and the reason haley is saying that is a lot of people do oppose what they now call forever wars. >> laura: they trust trump on those issues, at least for now. that's it for us tonight. we are just seconds away from the last polls closing in new hampshire. jesse watters has the latest results at 8:00 p.m. >> jesse: hey, laura. thank you. we are just moments away from the final polls closing in the great state of new hampshire. most of the republicans in the state are voting and the nation's first primary, 22 delegates up for grabs. former president donald trump and nikki haley are facing off all week long, hoping to enact tonight and move along and secure the republican nomination so they can take on president joe biden in november. fox news' continuing coverage from the new hampshire primary starts now. we have a fox news alert.

it's 8:00 p.m. in bedford, new hampshire, where the polls are officially closed all across the granite state, and the vote counting is underway. donald trump is entering tonight with a commanding lead in the polls, but the question is, will nikki haley's campaign live or die in the lead free or die state? walking into tonight, the priority is clear. like iowa. a large faction of republican voters in new hampshire believe the country needs a complete and total upheaval. donald trump is seen as a vehicle for that. the top issue on the minds of republican voters is immigration. donald trump garners massive support, then followed by the economy. he looks to cement his nomination in new hampshire, while president joe biden's name was not on the ballot today. but his supporters staged a vigorous write-in campaign expected to put him over the edge. and we now have a fox news alert.

a call to make. let's bring in martha maccallum, anchor of "the story," and bret baier, anchor of "special report." >> good evening, jesse. the last polls have closed in new hampshire and the fox news decision desk can project that president joe biden will win the democratic primary here in the granite state. state. >> bret: remember, biden's voters had to write in his name today because of a dispute between the dnc and new hampshire over which state should go first, and he defeats rivals including representative dean phillips, the minnesota congressman who is likely to finish in double digits. maybe upper double digits. he calls for a new generation of leaders. >> it's a symbolic -- there are no demo delegates for the democ. >> bret: the fox news decision desk beliefs form president donald trump has a solid lead in the republican primary. former governor nikki haley

appears to be running a somewhat closer race than some recent surveys shown going in. that is where we are tonight. it is too early to call this race as of this hour. >> jesse: so you're saying he does have a lead, but we are not ready to call it yet, because he was going into this with about an 18-point margin according to the real clear politics. >> bret: she is outperforming that. we are waiting for the raw vote total to come in as we look at our fox news voter analysis numbers, the rolling poll we take of new hampshire voters, just like we did in iowa. you're looking to match the raw vote total that comes in with those numbers and right now she is out-performing, but it still looks like the former president has a solid lead. >> martha: but haley is performing a bit stronger than we thought and have about 70%. a little bit longer before we hhave a real solid call to make.

>> jesse: thank you so much. we will see you shortly. the results slowly starting to trickle in. let's go to bill hemmer, coanchor of "america's newsroom,"" at the big board with the latest. >> bill: it is life-size, isn't it, jesse? what bret and martha were trying to expand the audience right now, this is where we are. it is a margin game here. donald trump is on his way to victory tonight in new hampshire, what is the margin? you follow those tracking polls for the last week, it was really strong on those numbers. and as he hit that or not? is a big question right now. 17% vote in, too early call, and right now the difference here puts trump up nine percentage points. that should seem to portend very well for his chances to enact the state tonight. but if you are competing and looking down the road at nevada, and then south carolina, super tuesday in early march,

the trump team wanted to win profoundly with a big number. is it going to be enough for them? or what happens with the other 80% of the estimated vote that is still out there? i can show you this now. i will flip over the democratic side because there's a race over there. two things are interesting. we believe 100,000 democrats voted today or voted on the democratic side. whether you are declared democrat or undeclared as an independent. pretty comfortable for joe biden, but he's just a tick below 60%. i was looking at is number a bit earlier today. he add the raw vote total here, 13, 5,000, 1,000, we are long way from knowing how many people chose to vote for joe biden as a write-in candidate. right now dean phillips is doing all right. he's above 20%. if that number were to hold throughout the night, it might send a little bit of a shiver down some democratic spines

throughout the night and into the next contest as we move further on. let me just show you what is in the offing here on the calendar. it is early, right to? it's january. we have only had iowa and we've had new hampshire. if you are the trump to team and you are looking to vanquish all your other opponents with ron desantis jumped on mike dropping out two days ago, look what's coming in february. nevada is a mess, okay? you have a primary where nikki haley is competing. there are no delegates they are awarded. then you have a caucus two days later where you have delegates awarded and donald trump will compete in the caucus, okay? so that sets trump's team up well for nevada. then you wait about 31 days and you go back to the palmetto state. nikki haley's home state. donald trump has performed very well there. he has the governor support, both senators behind him, and they believe polling in south carolina has extremely strong. so depending on what happens

tonight, taking you back to real time here, this is the scenario. we will get away from democrats now and go back to the republican race. and you think about this now, what is the margin? remember nikki haley told us, throughout the entire week here in new hampshire, she's not getting out. but if the margin is so profound, say it's over ten points, maybe if it goes to 15 you really make the haley campaign think about whether or not you want to stick it in or stick with us, rather, for another 31 days. we will watch this and see how it goes. let me check one more time here, jesse. the margin is still nine points, so it is really a test right now on the board to see what happens between these two republicans who are the only ones left in this race as of now. >> jesse: bill hemmer, thank you so much. now "primetime" has two coverage at both campaign headquarters.

let's start with alexis mcadams at trump headquarters in nashua. alexis? >> there's a party-like atmosphere here in nashua, new hampshire, at this location where everybody is watching closely as those polls continue to close. as you heard, the fox news decision desk says trump has that lead. we will see how the rest of the night plays out here. how confident is the former president in how he's going to do here in the granite state? i asked him earlier and he's already talking about vp picks. we talked about vivek ramaswamy, byron donalds, kari lake, tim scott, here in the room tonight. he also saw george santos walk by a short time ago, so he wanted to be here in new hampshire, as well. it's all down to a two-person race which is what nikki haley said she wanted this entire time. now she's got it. trump said it's not going to help her, it's going to hurt her here, because he is strong on the border. when you talk to people here in new hampshire, what do they care about?

they tell me it's the economy and immigration. so they want somebody who is strong on the economy, someone who is strong on the border, as well. and he thinks he has this race in the bag. and how quickly things change in politics, right? all the effort is trump go after desantis for months, and he says he's forgot about that, jesse. >> jesse: alexis, thank you so much. we have a fox news alert. a call to make. let's bring in martha maccallum, and bret baier, anchor of "special report." >> bret: the fox news decision desk and now predict that former president donald trump will enact the new hampshire republican primary. this is an important win for trump given the role that undeclared voters and moderate new england republicans play in this state in particular. >> martha: he defeats is only notable rival still in his race, former governor nikki haley. haley appears to be running a somewhat closer race than the recent polling had showed. both these candidates will

receive a share of the 22 delegates. you have to get over 10% in order to start divvying up those delegates. and she's in that range. >> bret: it's really interesting, jesse, is at the top issue is immigration. iowa and new hampshire. and the trump campaign was very disciplined and how they pitched that. every rally we went to, every commercial has some mention of immigration, and they hit that hard in the final days. >> martha: it is pretty stunning that immigration has gotten to the top issue in new hampshire. and all the migration, the intentional migration some of these governors in seven states dead, sending migrants up to these more northern areas. and it is resonating with voters of here. no doubt. >> bret: the everything to watch is what the spread is here. as you see it is about ten points, roughly, a little bit less than that, and the question is, what does it need to be for governor haley to continue on? she says she is continuing on anyway, that there will be

pressure, especially from the trump world, for her to do as governor desantis did and step aside. it doesn't look like she's going to do that. >> jesse: so it looks like it's about a 9 to 15-point margin. we don't know exactly where it's going to land? >> martha: i think that's probably a safe guess at this point, that we are still at 19% with these numbers still coming in from different areas around new hampshire. but clearly it is a solid win. it would also be -- no one has won the republican nomination, in iowa and new hampshire, and not gone on to secure the nomination. so history is on the former president's side when he looks ahead at these other states. we have heard, as everyone has said time and time again, from governor haley, she is a believe two states should decide who the nominee is going to be and she intends to stay in this and work hard over the next month into south carolina. whether or not they rethink this, given the end of the night numbers here, we will see.

>> bret: she is out-performing the polls going into this day. she's doing better across the board. how that turns out at the end of the night is the big question. the history made tonight, jesse, is that donald trump is now the only person ever to enact the new hampshire primary three times. so there you go. >> jesse: [laughs] i'm sure we'll hear him note that in the speech tonight. he always likes to big records and make history. >> martha: jesse, one other thing i would mention, nikki haley has been saying all along, "i was at 2% in the beginning, got the 20% in iowa." now you look at this number at 45. if it stays in the area, she'll say she doubled what she did in iowa. i imagine she will characterize this as a continued climb. we will see. we will see what she has to say at the end of the night and where this goes. >> bret: end of the donor's buy all of that. >> jesse: as we saw over at hemmer's board, we have a long

way to go getting to nevada and south carolina. as can be treacherous days getting pounded over and over again by the former president. and a lot of the republican party looking to wrap this up and coalesce around donald trump. so they are healthy, motivated, and united going into a general election. but we will see. she can make any decision she wants. it is up to nikki haley, and the president has been pretty gracious when he said, "i'm not calling for anybody to drop out. it is their decision." those are tough decisions, but as we know, he can be quite forgiving once someone does suspend the campaign and endorses. it is water under the bridge. now let's bring in vivek ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate who did drop out, and doris, and is now in the former president's good graces. are you in nashua right now at the party? >> i am, jesse.

i'm right here at the after party. i think this is a decisive win for donald trump. that's what we are seeing tonight. i think this is an interesting view of this. it is like the general election. you have more independents and democrats voting in this g.o.p. primary, it looks like, than registered republicans themselves. and many of the largest odors to the democratic party have been the largest donors to nikki haley, his opponent here. so i think this is a prediction to what you'll see in the general election, and the decisive margin we see tonight is, in some ways, something that bodes well for trump heading into the general election in november to reunite this country. so it might be the general election really begins tonight. i think the republican primary, for all intents and purposes, is over tonight, and the party and the country are better off if we see that for what it is. >> jesse: is vivek ramaswamy calling for nikki haley to suspend her campaign? >> look, i do think that would be the right thing for the country, unambiguously. to call a spade a spade,

jesse -- as you know, i've not been afraid to do that in this campaign -- if nikki haley does say end, it will send the signal that her only path and what she's playing for it is for donald trump being eliminated by forces outside of this process, by the judicial system, by secretaries of state in places like maine or elsewhere. i think that is downright wrong. i think it's wrong for the republican party and wrong for this country. there is no viable path for her to defeat him through the front door. so what we are really seeing is the very people like reid hoffman, who are paying for the lawsuits against donald trump, now becoming the largest donors or among the largest donors to nikki haley. it becomes obvious editing they're playing for is for trump to be eliminated by what i view as illegitimate means. i think that's bad for this party and bad for this country. that's what that will mean. for that reason, i think it's the right decision for nikki haley to make for the country and the republican party tonight or soon after tonight, to make this a 1-person nomination for the republican

nomination and head into a general election where he can focus on delivering a 1980s-style moral mandate, a reagan-style landslide. when you have the likes of john fetterman recently talking about the importance of the southern border, that says that many democrats and independents and libertarians agree with the views of this america first movement. that's why i took myself out of the race to endorse donald trump. i think the other republican said on the right thing. it's time for nikki haley to do the right thing as well and focus on the landslide is november that, dare i say, will be unite this country, and that's why i'm in this. >> jesse: vivek, enjoy the party. try to behave yourself. now let's bring in dana perino, from "america's newsroom" and my cohost on "the five." we were talking before about the expectation game, and if she was going to maybe due single digits here, then she could justify continuing. but it doesn't look like that -- maybe she squeaks out 9, but it looks closer to 12 or 15.

what is her calculation? >> dana: i think you made a good point, something that president trump said, that everybody has to make their own decision. if you think about where she was in february, it was 2%. and it's not a 30-point blowout, but is it a nonpoint blowout? even if it's single digits, when you look forward, it gets harder to think about how he even mathematically make sense of that. i think something that vivek was saying is very important for republicans to think about. if you are going to unite the party, you're going to need her voters. president trump has done externally well in iowa and in rural areas, suburban areas, softer from where she is stronger. she is stronger in suburban areas. we saw that in both iowa and new hampshire. everyone on the republican side is going to have to say, if we

get behind president trump, can we all do that? or is it just going to take a little bit of time to get there? i don't know if it can happen immediately. and new hampshire is very strange in some ways, reflective of the country that 40% of people say they are independent. that matches what the country says, that 43% now say they are independent. they don't want to be called republicans or democrats. but in different states have different rules. that's not always the case. in south carolina you don't have to declare it all. everybody gets to vote for whoever they want. when you go to nevada, it's a different story. it's a lot of things going into this but bottom line for nikki haley as she did a lot better than anyone give her credit for last february. can she get it to a win tonight? unlikely. >> jesse: it is a weird state. no offense to the people of new hampshire. but in terms of your republican primary voter, it is a new england -- it's not highly evangelical, it is highly

educated, and there's lots of democrats and independents getting involved in the process, so you are not going to have your iowa voter in a place like new hampshire. despite that, still, if it is the 10 to 15-point margin, that seems healthy enough for people to ask nikki haley to hang it up. >> dana: new england has been very interesting for a long time. despite your uncle -- >> jesse: state senator david watters. bret there was mitt romney, chris sununu, very popular. charlie baker of massachusetts, also very popular. and all republicans, it maybe a different flavor, they wouldn't necessarily win a primary in iowa, but can they win in new england? i was saying at the beginning that everybody has to gather together if they expect a win one of these contests. it'll be a tough general

election fight. >> bret: i think we have nikki haley live in new hampshire. >> thank you, thank you. [applause] >> i love you, nikki! >> i love you, too! >> you are a great american! [cheers and applause] >> what a great night. god is so good. [applause] thank you, new hampshire, for the love, the kindest, the support, and a great night here tonight. thank you so much. [applause] i want to first say thank you to my husband, who i know is watching right now. i love you. that we are excited to have you. thank you.

and those who have stepped up and given me the support they need. you really pull on your family went like this happens, and i'm incredibly blessed by the support. [applause] i have my parents at home, and i will always say that the way they raised me, to know that we lived in the best country in the world, and the best way you appreciate your blessings is to give back. thank you, mom and dad. i love you so much. [cheers and applause] to my siblings, to my in-laws, to everybody back at home, to vicki for helping me take care of mom and dad, thank you for that. i will tell you, it feels like it's been a lifetime, but it's been almost a year that we have been campaigning in

new hampshire, touching every hand, answering every question, being the last person to leave. and we had the most amazing thing happened. the second that we got the endorsement from governor chris sununu -- [cheers and applause] i mean, a true governor that doesn't stand behind a podium. he shows up at a diner, he shows up at the brewery. he loves the people of new hampshire. he has been with me every single day, at every single event. chris, i couldn't have done it without you. [cheers and applause] and i want to thank someone who was with me on day one. he is a patriot. he is a hard-core conservatives, and he is my friend.

thank you so, so much. [cheers and applause] i want to congratulate donald trump on his victory tonight. he earned it, and i want to acknowledge that. you have all heard the chatter among the political class. they are falling all over themselves, saying this race is over. >> it's not over! [cheers and applause] >> well, i have news for all of them. new hampshire is first in the nation. it is not the last in the na nation. [cheers and applause] this race is far from over. there are dozens of states left to go. [cheers and applause] >> let that voice be heard,

nikki! >> and the next one is my sweet state of south carolina! [cheers and applause] at one point, in this campaign, there were 14 of us running. and we were at 2% in the polls. well, i'm a fighter. [applause] and i'm scrappy. and now we are the last ones standing next to donald trump. [cheers and applause] and today we got close to half of the vote. [applause] we still have a ways to go, but we keep moving up. for a lot of people, politics is

way too personal. it's not personal for me. i voted for him twice. as proud to serve america in his cabinet. i agree with many of his policies. i decided to run because i'm worried about the future of our country, and because it's time to put the negativity and chaos behind us. [cheers and applause] >> jesse: all right, that was nikki haley not dropping out. she said new hampshire is the first in the nation but it's not the last, and she is going to be moving on to dozens more states. but first, her home state of south carolina. let's bring back in dana perino. is that what you expected, dana? >> dana: yes, although, i have to say, the way she structured a speech, ferment there i thought she was dropping out. because she started with heartfelt thanks to her parents and her husband and her supporters like chris sununu, the governor, don bolduc, the

general, who been very supportive of her. she says she will be in a dozen more states. one thing i do know about her is that she has a lot of money. she's got that big infusion of cash. so campaigns, when you run out of money, that's when you run out of road. she has the road ahead of her because she has those funds. >> jesse: let's listen back in to the rest of nikki haley and hear what she has to say. she is breaking some news. let's go back. >> [crowd chanting "nikki"] >> and the question is, who's going to fix it? [cheers and applause] with donald trump, republicans have lost almost every

competitive election. we lost the senate. we lost the house. we lost the white house. we lost in 2018. we lost in 2020, and we lost in 2022. the worst-kept secret in politics is how badly the democrats want to run against donald trump. >> he's a loser! >> they know trump is the only republican in the country who joe biden can defeat. you can't fix the mess if you don't win and election. >> we want to win! >> a trump nomination is a biden win and a kamala harris presidency. [audience reacts] >> dump trump! >> i defeat biden handily.

>> we want you, nikki! >> with donald trump, you have one bout of chaos after another. this court case, that controversy, this tweet, that senior moment. you can't fix joe biden's chaos with republican chaos. >> that's right! [cheers and applause] >> the other day, donald trump accused me of not providing security at the capitol on generally six. [laughter] >> he's geriatric! >> i have long called for mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75. [cheers and applause] >> politicians who don't wear depends! >> he claims he did better than me and one of those tests. maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. but if he thinks that, then he

should have no problem standing on a debate stage with made. [cheers and applause] [sustained cheering] >> jesse: okay, so she is obviously now challenging the former president to a debate. we don't believe that's ever going to happen. let's now bring in kayleigh mcenany, host of "outnumbered," former white house press secretary. you just heard nikki haley say some negative things about the former president. >> the first party to retire it's 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins this election. [cheers and applause] and i think it should be the republicans that win this election.

[cheers and applause] so our fight is not over, because we have a country to save. in the next two months, millions of voters in over 20 states will have their say. we should honor them, and allow them to vote. and guess what? in the next two months, joe biden isn't going to get any younger or any better. [laughter] we will have all the time we need to defeat joe biden. [cheers and applause] when we get to south carolina, donald trump is going to have a harder time falsely attacking me. the great people of south carolina know i cut their taxes. they know i signed the toughest illegal immigration bill in the country. they know we passed voter i.d.,

and tort reform, and ethics reform, and they know we moved 35,000 people from welfare to work. [cheers and applause] every time i've run for office in south carolina, i have beaten the political establishment. they are lined up against me again. that is no surprise. but south carolina voters don't want a coronation. they want an election. [cheers and applause] and we are going to give them one. because we are just getting started. thank you for the energy! [cheers and applause] [crowd chanting "nikki"]

thank you! thank you for the love, new hampshire. we are going home to south carolina. [cheers and applause] >> we love you, nikki! >> i love you, too. thank you. [cheers and applause] now, i want to say it is really important that i say some additional thank yous. i think the governor chris sununu and general don and sharon bolduc, but a few other people have been currently gracious to us. to the entire sununu family, and senator john e sununu. thank you, thank you. senator greg, thank you for your advice, for your encouragement, and your support.

i'm truly grateful. [applause] kim rice, thank you for being with me since the very beginning. i love you. [applause] and to -- >> jesse: that was nikki haley again. let's bring in "outnumbered" cohost and former white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany, for real this time. explain this to me. she just probably lost by 10-12, she is staying in, possibly beyond south carolina, it seems. what is that due to the republican party? >> kayleigh: she has said she will endorse the nominee. for all intents and purposes, the present of nominee's donald j. trump. he just won iowa and new hampshire. no one's done that since going back to 1976. the only person i believed to ever win you have to three times. he's currently pulling in the majority of support. but she's making the argument, "i was at 2%, and i'm at 40"

staring down super tuesday, 11 of the 16 states allow independents to vote. but as "the new york times" pointed out, if you look at each and every state to come in the latest polling, there is not one state that has the latest poll that has donald trump closer than 30% margin. so she is staring down a nightmare of a map, but she's making the case, i can win. do republicans want to win? she made that argument on the airwaves here in new hampshire. it didn't resonate but what landed was the message on immigration. >> jesse: how can you say, the guy that is beating me and will beat me for the rest of the primary will is the general election? and the loser of the republican primary, nikki haley, will win the general election? because that's her argument and i don't understand it. do you? >> kayleigh: he was the she's making.

i would go to my victory party and celebrate, i've made history again, but then i would go home and look under the hood. when you look under the hood of our fox news voter analysis data, you will find that 32% of republicans say we won't vote for trump. i've got to unite the party. that's the argument nikki haley is making. nikki haley won independents 59-33. if i'm trump, i go home, i celebrate, and i said that unit's party and win independents. that's how i beat to biden. >> jesse: they do say that and that's in the heat of the moment. this is a snapshot in january. "i will never vote for donald trump," and maybe their feelings change november. >> kayleigh: i must say, i know she says she's not running for second, but i think this is a play for the vice presidential nomination. we must unite the republican party. i think she's playing for that. >> jesse: so you think she's going to force the issue, drag this out, get some clout with some delegates going into the convention, and leverage her way

onto the ticket? >> kayleigh: i think it's a real possibility. >> jesse: that should be interesting. i'm not sure the republican base is going to be thrilled about that. politics is crazy. >> kayleigh: they will vote for trump. >> jesse: what contributed to this trump win? let's bring in sandra smith, coanchor of america reports. >> sandra: we have brand-new data to show you about voters and what they said about trump's strengths, and what we have seen so far tonight. as far as those maga supporters on the ground in new hampshire, half of them identify as maga supporters. look at their support for donald trump, 87% of them voted for trump. he also did very well with those conservative voters, as you can see here. 68% supported donald trump. he also did well with those without a college degree, the rural voters, 37% of them went for him. also the big question we had

heading into tonight was when people decided who their candidate would be. the time of decision. this is a really telling thing. of those voters who said they decided more than a month ago, they supported donald trump in this race. six in ten decided more than a month ago, 69% of that group went for donald trump, just a quarter of them went for haley. next up, another question we have been asking voters in his republican primary, what do they think about how the country is run and how much change they want to see? about three in ten voters say they want complete and total upheaval, and 82% of them went for donald trump in this race. this is even more than we saw in iowa, 70% of those caucus-goers went for donald trump. one more thing about winning in november, this is obviously a very key question for voters in new hampshire. 74% say it is very important for

the republican nominee to be able to win in november, and those voters, six in ten of them, went for donald trump 62% of the time. these are some of the key takeaways so far. we'll have more later in the night. >> jesse: now let's bring in shannon bream, and guy benson. shannon, this is not maga country here in new hampshire. nikki haley out-spent donald trump 221. she was here a lot more over the past year. donald trump basically came in the last week and campaign very vigorously. still, it looks like he's going to come out with about 810, 12, navy 15-point advantage. what does that mean? >> shannon: it means people care about two big issues, immigration and economy. they said that over and over, and with those groups, he killed it. the more geordie of people, that was a big 's issue and they were with him.

interestingly enough, when you ask about the indictment and whether it was going to hurt h him, when he said it's actually going to help, it was fine with people here. six in ten here thought they were politically motivated. when i was on the ground at these trump event talking to people, they said, not only did it make me not shy away from him, it's making me double down on him. >> jesse: we are getting new information on some of these exit polls. it could be 7-10 points of a spread for donald trump. maybe 7-10 points, not 12 points. points. guy, going into this yesterday we were playing the expectations game. that nikki haley needs to get within double digits to justify continuing her campaign down to south carolina. if she is in singles, does not give her any justification? >> guy: she obviously thinks so based on her comments minutes ago. this is a single digit race. people are talking about what she needs to do. that's her decision to make. is there a path for her?

that the other question people were asking. i think it is still a really tough one if it exists, because she is 0-2 and trump is 2-0. that's a huge difference. south carolina, he has a big lead for now. one thing i'm thinking about, and kayleigh mcenany touched on this a few minutes ago on the program, i think the trump campaign and the republican pare to grapple with this reality that there are a lot of republican voters who are not excited right now about nominating donald trump again. more of them are, that there is a substantial minority who are not. those people are going to have to come into the fold at some point if the republicans are going to win a general election. i have seen people dismissive of all these independents boosting haley's numbers. guess who the republicans are going to need in the fall to win? those independents. so i think giving the back of the hand to that coalition is unwise, and i think republicans need to look at these numbers carefully. >> jesse: and the democrats have a problem with the base,

too, shannon. about 12% of the primary voters say they will not vote for joe biden if he is the nominee, and 40% of the democrats here in the granite state say he is too hold for a second term. >> shannon: will they look at president trump as a nominee or nikki haley as a nominee? she said that the strength for her. democrats and independents really came over to her. the former president has hit her on that, saying she's bringing liberals into the party. don't we want more people to come in? this is going to be one of her arguments sending her to the general. "i can bring people in who may not even take a look at president trump." >> guy: and we often talk about who are the people who comprise the electorate. what could be a decisive factor in november is who doesn't show up, who doesn't turn out and why. >> jesse: guy benson, shannon bream, thank you so much. let's go back to bill hemmer, coanchor of "america's newsroom," on the board. >> bill: yes, jesse. looking at this margin and it

could take some time before we determine this. this is where you stand right now, just about 8:40 p.m. in new hampshire, a difference of eight points between trump and nikki haley. here's what i'm watching. the connecticut river valley runs along the border with vermont, and this is main over here. massachusetts down here. this is the second most populous county. all of new hampshire. you only have 7% of the vote accounted for right now and rocking him. if i were to take you back -- now it just jumped to 9%. just look how close this is. if i were to take you back to eight years ago, granting of two candidates in the race and you had ten on that republican race. donald trump's english of them with just shy of 39% in rockingham county. what i'm suggesting right now is that there is a vote out there still and there could be better news for donald trump. conversely, there could be good news for nikki haley. this is grafton county. the connecticut river here,

there's the town of hanover where dartmouth college is located. that is where john kasich performed really well eight years ago. some of these communities along the connecticut river. and nikki haley seems to be doing pretty well, again, with only 31% of the vote counted there in grafton county. the capital city, concord, that's marinette county, another spot in the state where john kasich did well in 2016. it appears that the kind of vote that she's picking up because she's running dead even there in merrimack county. i'm going to put on the outstanding vote. what we are trying to figure out is what votes still need to be counted. slipping to the purple here, the remaining vote throughout new hampshire. it's a lot. the darker the shade of purple, the more votes that have to be tabulated right now. this hasn't changed since we started talking a couple minutes ago, still at 27%.

throughout the entire state of new hampshire, you're going to have the remaining vote coming in and ultimately -- one more time, be patient with me here -- 7.6%, as we evaluate this going forward. what is the margin donald trump wants to get to vanquish nikki haley? as of her comments 10 minutes ago, she's not getting out. that means nevada early february, it means south carolina in 31 days. >> jesse: bill hemmer at the big board. thank you so much. let's go to fox news contributor and former white house deputy chief of staff karl rove. i don't know if you just heard what kayleigh's theory was, but it's, he continued to fight trump throughout this primary, you build up enough delegates to go into the convention in milwaukee with some juice and maybe squeeze your way onto the ticket. is that a rigid legit theory?>> karl: that depee

mindset of the ultimate nominee of the party, and it doesn't strike me that donald trump is the kind of person is going to say yes, i'm ronald reagan, i'm going to pick my preeminent challenger in order to unite the party. i just don't think he's that kind of person. he probably is going to awaken to needs to know the fact that he needs to be the front of the party, and that may be the case, but i doubt it. >> jesse: for the general health of the republican party, if nikki stays in and goes to south carolina and has enough money to continue on and still get second, as these days go on, does that make it harder for the event you will nominee, donald trump, to defeat joe biden? >> karl: i'm not certain. once donald trump -- say he succeeds in winning the nomination early. the attention is going to drop off of him. to some degree, the longer the contest goes on, a reasonable amount of time, the better off he is, because it allows them to

articulate a vision for the general election. what matters is not so much how much she says and what she's doing as what he does. if he takes on the task of describing a general election message and positioning himself to beat biden after winning the nomination, if he feels secure about getting the nomination, he'll be better off. this is really an important point. i've got the cheap whiteboard here. it's not exactly a whiteboard. think about this in the fox news analysis. from the start, four out of every ten voters in hampshire said, i not going to change my mind, that's where i was when this process began for a 9 out of 10 went for donald trump. some decided during the course of the campaign. 6 out of 10 of the voters tonight, 3 out of 10 went for trump, 6 out of 10 went for haley, and 1 out of 10 went for somebody else. in other words, his campaign has not really advance him. he did better with people who

went in with their minds made up. that's good because he started with a high base, but it also suggests he didn't do as well at making the case to the people over the course of the campaign. one more data point, playing off of what bill hemmer said earlier, half of these voters in the analysis said they wouldn't vote for nikki haley if she were the nominee of the party. 8 out of 10 voters said they wouldn't vote for donald trump. that's in the heat of the moment, but nonetheless it suggests that whoever is the republican nominee is going to have to do a lot in unifying the party and lowering the temperature, and the principal responsibility is the front runner. if you are the front runner you are the most likely to enact the nomination, so begin that job earlier, because if i were sitting in the command post of either trump or haley, i'd be worried about these numbers for the general election. >> jesse: that's got to be a little emotion, karl, like when you get into a fight with your girlfriend. "i'm never talking to her again!" in any patch things up and you

start talking again. not that you're not saying you don't have to do repair work, but it's in the heat of the moment, if you know what i mean. i'm sure you've never broken up with anybody. >> karl: what was your strategy, flowers and chocolates? >> jesse: never flowers when you're in a fight. because that conditions her to think that you are only giving her flowers in a negative time. >> karl: very subtle. >> jesse: i have so much to teach you. the architect. thank you so much. what was joe biden up to today? peter doocy is at the white house with details. peter? >> jesse, the president did two things today. he talked about abortion access and he got heckled by pro-cease-fire and gaza protesters. today was a rear side by side appearance of president biden and vice president harris. they went out to northern virginia and the president -- it took way longer for the president to get his prepared remarks out, because 14 different times, hecklers were

shouting him down about the cease-fire in gaza. the officials here at the biden white house get the same polls that we all get. the top two issues being, for voters, the economy and immigration. but they are choosing to try to get their base riled up by focusing on access to abortions, or what they call reproductive rights. because president biden chose to not be on the ballot in new hampshire, the end of 2022 he instructed the dnc, i don't want to be in a caucus like iowa, where he came in fourth, and he thinks he needs to be more diversity in the first primary for democrats. he came in fifth in hampshire. so he put out the word that he wanted to wait, and that's what they're doing. i've been here since 7:00 this morning. i would never know that it was an election day until you turn on the tv and see people are voting. he didn't say anything about it, they didn't say anything about it at the press briefing, and,

remarkably, just as you were coming to us, his team in wilmington, the campaign team, put out a statement. it has nothing to do with his successful write-in in new hampshire, his first win the cycle. instead it's about trump. the campaign manager says tonight's results confirm that donald trump has all but locked up the nomination, and the election-denying maga movement has completed its takeover of the repu republican party. something else notable about the write-in campaign winning in new hampshire, he's never won in hampshire before. he has tried, when he's actually on the ballot. it turns out, for him, the trick might have just been not being on the ballot and asking people to write his name and hope for the best. because it worked. >> jesse: right. when joe biden doesn't campaign, he wins. that's the strategy. don't campaign. how many times was he heckled

during the speech today, did you say? >> 14 times. >> jesse: it sounds like a gutfeld exclamation point show but that's a lot of heckling. >> at one point he said it would take a while and they had this plan. he was right. >> jesse: all right. peter doocy, thank you so much. now let's go to alexis alexis mcadams, live from trump headquarters in nashua, new hampshire. the president should be taking the stage soon, we are hearing. >> jesse, that's right. we are waiting for the former president to get up on the stage behind me and so is this entire room. every 10 minutes or so i think it gets a little bit louder in here. people are going out to the bar, getting drinks, and it's a celebration after the former president has done it again. this time in new hampshire. and i just talked with vivek ramaswamy as you did a short time ago and he thinks it

is time for nikki haley to drop out and get behind donald trump. instead they are wasting time and they need to focus on going after joe biden in the primary. but we will hear from the former president there on that stage behind me. senator tim scott is in the room, his vivek ramaswamy, byron donalds, marjorie taylor greene, kari lake. we will see if they go on the stage with him. definitely a celebration here. a lot of people excited about what trump did in the granite state. >> jesse: give us a little perspective in terms of the excitement level, how active is the open bar? are the corks popping? how do they interpret this margin of victory? >> they think this is a big win. it is still going, obviously. all these ballots are still being counted. but for it to be called at that time, people here who are trump supporters are so excited. i'm going to step out of the way a tiny bit if i can get off screen so you can kind of see what the crowd looks like here on the ground.

this is the area where trump will take the stage. and you can see how the crowd is ebbing and flowing but people have been coming in. once it was called, more people started getting into the room. as for bottles popping, i haven't heard them yet, but i will keep you posted on that. definitely a lot of people are happy here and waiting to see a former president. >> jesse: i think i saw corey lewandowski behind you, so anything can happen at any time. he does have to prepare. our people getting jazzed up about the whole vp deal because he's been trotting out his endorsers who he has forgiven? people seem to be auditioning, to a certain extent. is the audience kind of feeling that anticipation through vp? >> vivek ramaswamy had a bunch of people cheering and excited to see him, and i asked him, are you going to be the vp? and he wouldn't answer, but he said he is excited to help the

president in any way he can. i do think people in the crowd want to see what these people are going to say. they want to see senator tim scott on that stage. he was really excited last night and trying to amp up the crowd for president trump. probably going to see that again. things change so quickly, and in politics it was only just days ago that people are going after the former president and he was going after them, people were making fun of him, back and forth. the people forget about it when you drop out and endorsed him, i guess. we will have to see how things play out on that stage. >> jesse: when fox was airing the nikki haley speech and she wasn't dropping out, and she said she was going to go to possibly dozens of other states, did you sense a little animosity in the room? >> i think people here have all agreed, if she didn't win here in new hampshire, they don't think she has a shot to go forward. but some things people were talking about here on the ground, some voters are saying she has a lot of money being funneled into her campaign. she said she's tightly watched that money and has the momentum to go into the next phase of this. we will have to keep a close eye

on how things go there. he made it very clear she's not running for vp, not running for second place, and she's not going anywhere. >> jesse: thanks, alexis. let's bring in the closer, fox news chief political analyst brit hume. we talked the other day about the margin. what does this margin tell you? >> brit: jesse, i'm right here. you don't have to shout. [laughs] >> jesse: i'm a little excited about being in new hampshire next to you, after being lectured for the fact that i had my tie sticking out of my ja jacket. i feel like i have not really risen to the occasion, but i'm just going to forget about it. >> brit: [laughs] so what does this mean? >> jesse: what does this mean? >> brit: the big question tonight, i think, is the margin trump was going to win. if he hadn't, it would have been a staggering upset. the question is whether the margin nikki haley held would be significant to keep her going for a while, and i think it

beneficial he is. there are polls that had her down 11, one had her down at 16 in recent days. so everything is about expectations at this stage, and i think she remains alive and kicking and on to the next place. >> jesse: if she continues to place second, state after state, and everybody calls for her to drop out, what is her rationale? knocking off second place for the next month? >> brit: that could have a number of ramifications. in 1980, george w. bush came to new hampshire after beating ronald reagan in iowa, which reagan basically skipped, and he was the front runner. and he got beat, badly. and he hung on in the race. he was careful about criticizing reagan, but he did, to some extent. and he ended up on the ticket. so these are kind of things that can happen. and haley, you hearing silly

talk these days that nikki haley is appealing to people outside the party, appealing to all these independents come and people talking about that she's a really liberal and that's all balderdash. she's not deliv a liberal, she'a conservative. and if she doesn't fact-appeal to others in the party, she could be helpful to have your, which we presume will be trump. spewing you say bush the elder worked his way onto that ticket with reagan by staying in and having a little juice. i floated that idea with kayleigh mcenany, and karl rove, and he pooh-poohed it in the way karl rove does, that donald trump would never have his hand forced like that. >> brit: we will see. >> jesse: we'll see? >> brit: the republicans are a minority party in this country. they can win elections, and they do, but they need to be able to

track support from outside the ranks of the republican party, and donald trump is very strong within the republican party but much weaker outside of it. that is the reality of this season so far. >> jesse: are you telling me that, donald trump, in order to win this election against joe biden, might need nikki haley on the ticket? >> brit: or a candidate who has the same attributes in the sense of the ability to pull in votes from outside the republican party. >> jesse: do you know that person would be? >> brit: of course not. >> jesse: any look at some of these polls and it's obviously very emotional. over half of trump voters say, if nikki is the nominee, there's no way they would ever stomach voting for her. that's emotion? >> brit: you want to enact election? >> jesse: i believe they do. >> brit: these people for donald trump and his policies, nikki haley somehow wins the

nomination, they're going to vote for biden or not vote? i don't think so. >> jesse: i cannot believe on "jesse watters primetime" we are talking about nikki haley being on the ticket with donald trump. maybe we are getting a little tand of ourselves. >> brit: i agree. >> jesse: i blame karl rove. >> brit: staying in when you can come if you can. if you can raise the money and keep going. it enlarges your profile within the party in the country, it makes the case for the issue and position you take in. so there's lots of reasons to do it even if you're not winning. >> jesse: and we expect the former president to take the stage at any second. if you were advising him, what would you tell him to say after a night like this? >> brit: you claim victory and say good things and thanked people, and i think it would help him if he were gracious about her. i wouldn't bet anything i own that it's going to happen, but he was gracious after winning so big in iowa. he can afford to be gracious paid she's given them a run for

his money, and he wants it would happen tonight to be a blowout win for him that would pull her out of the race. i don't think that's happened. so i don't know how gracious he's willing to be. >> jesse: and he still has to take the fight to joe biden. he can also run the primary campaign at the same time, but keep everybody focused on defeating joe biden and stick to policy, and be gracious. that would be the recipe. >> brit: well, yeah, but... you know. are you a betting man? would you bet he would be? >> jesse: i'm not a betting man. i thought there would be a red wave, and now look at me. >> brit: you are still here. >> jesse: i'm still here, but you scolded me for raising my voice. i didn't get the all-star panel level that i should have had around you, brit hume. thank you so much. >> brit: it's hanging below your belt now. >> jesse: stay with our continuing coverage of the new hampshire primary. thank you so much. ♪ ♪