The New Hampshire primary has a pretty good track record of electing the Republican candidate. Only three times since the 1950s has the winner of the New Hampshire primary not become the Republican nominee.
The state primaries and their results receive a lot of scrutiny because they come first, but there are relatively few delegates at stake. Ultimately, what guarantees primary nominations is winning delegates.
New Hampshire wins 22 delegates in the Republican primary process, less than 1% of the total delegates who will vote at this summer's convention. All state Republican delegates will be awarded to candidates proportionally based on their performance in the state primary, but candidates must win at least 10% of the vote to be eligible for delegates.
The state is not representative of the country as a whole. It has less than 1.5 million residents and is overwhelmingly white.
But New Hampshire voters take their role as the first primary state seriously, and an interesting feature of the American system is that anyone who wants to be president will have to get their message to ordinary people in New Hampshire's living rooms. Hampshire and make appearances at the state's diners.
Trump is the clear favorite and has 50% support among likely Republican primary voters in the Granite State, according to a CNN poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire and released Sunday. Trump's closest competitor, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, has 39%.
Read everything you need to know about The first primaries in the country in New Hampshire.
