Maybe New Hampshire isn’t a fair test, because Huckabee barely campaigned there. There are some signs (from my amateur look at the exit polls) of some down-market appeal. He over-performed among high school grads and those with some college, getting 17 percent of both. He performed equally well among liberal, moderate, and conservative voters, 12 percent, 12 percent, and 13 percent respectively. But basically it looks like he won evangelicals and very few others. He got 33 percent of the evangelical vote and 7 percent — less than Ron Paul — of non-evangelicals. He got 31 percent of those voters who cared “a great deal” about a candidate sharing their religious beliefs and 4 percent of those who care “not at all.” Meanwhile, he performed exactly the same among voters “very/somewhat” worried about the direction of the economy and those “not too/not at all” worried, at 13 percent. And he won 13-14 percent of voters “getting ahead,” “holding steady,” and “falling behind” financially. Michigan will be a much, much better test, but in New Hampshire, Huckabee’s appeal still seemed, at bottom, religious.
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About the Author
Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review.
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