MANCHESTER: New Hampshire voters headed to polls at the snowy break of day on Tuesday for the crucial first US presidential primary, with Donald Trump chasing victory and Hillary Clinton looking to narrow the gap on Bernie Sanders.

The northeastern state, home to just 1.3 million people, sets the tone for the primaries — and could shake out a crowded Republican field as the arch-conservative Senator Ted Cruz and establishment candidates led by Marco Rubio battle for second place behind the frontrunner Trump.

In the picturesque town of Canterbury, population 2,000-3,000, bitterly cold weather and a thick coat of snow on the ground greeted early rising voters who stopped by the polling station at the town hall before heading off to work.

David Emerson, a wood worker set up outside with a Sanders poster, said he plans to stay all day.

“This is my main thing, to stand out here with the sign,” he said. “He’s the only one that’s worth supporting. Hillary makes it clear it’s the same old, same old. Bernie talks about all the things that need to be done. Hopefully he’s really creating a movement”. A RealClearPolitics poll average shows Sanders — who has called for nothing short of a “political revolution” — leading 53.3 per cent to 40.5 per cent for Clinton in New Hampshire.

But a week after the Iowa caucuses kicked off the White House nomination race, everything remains in play in New Hampshire due to a high number of registered independents, who can choose to vote in either party, along with up to 30 per cent of voters still undecided in recent days.

“Trump!” laughed Karen Carone, a care giver from the small town of Loudon, when asked who she voted for. “I believe he will make America great again”. “He seems to be speaking for the silent majority,” agreed Chris Skora, an auto mechanic from Loudon, after casting his vote for the real estate magnate.

“A lot of us feel that way and it seems like this day and age we can’t say these things with the PC police all around”. The New York billionaire has energized broad swaths of blue-collar Americans, angry about economic difficulties and frustrated at what they see as their country losing its stature in the world.

But Trump needs to turn his soaring lead in the polls into a convincing win in New Hampshire if he is to recover from the embarrassment of finishing second behind Cruz in Iowa.

Trump told MSNBC as voting began he had been urging the supporters packing his rallies in the state to get out and cast ballots.

“Look, you know, I like to win,” Trump said. “I mean, that’s what I do, I win. I didn’t go in it to lose”. “That’s why I told them last night, no matter how you’re feeling you have to go out and vote”.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2016