New Hampshire proves how historically strong Trump is

Donald Trump won a historic primary victory Tuesday night in New Hampshire.

Unofficial returns at time of publication have the former president at about 55% of the vote to Nikki Haley’s 43%. Not only does Trump’s win make him the prohibitive favorite for the GOP nomination, but it leaves Haley with an unclear road map heading forward.

Indeed, in a number of ways, Trump’s New Hampshire triumph puts him on a GOP primary tier few, if any, Republicans have reached.

Let’s start off with Trump’s share of the vote. He’s only the second nonincumbent Republican to win a majority of the GOP primary vote in New Hampshire in the modern era. The only other was Ronald Reagan in 1980, and Trump’s 55% surpasses Reagan’s 50.2%.

Trump’s big vote share isn’t the only way we know New Hampshire Republicans love him. He is also just the second nonincumbent Republican to win the New Hampshire primary twice in the modern era. The other Republican was John McCain – a name synonymous with success in the first-in-the-nation primary.

Trump’s win comes on the back of his dominant victory in the Iowa caucuses, where he became the first nonincumbent Republican to earn a majority of the vote in the modern era.

Putting aside his wide victory margins, the fact that Trump was able to win both Iowa and New Hampshire is quite unusual. No other nonincumbent Republican has ever done it. Mitt Romney in 2012 came the closest (winning New Hampshire but losing Iowa by 24 votes) – and he took less than 40% in New Hampshire and under 25% of the vote in Iowa.

Trump’s ability to win Iowa and New Hampshire with such ease tells you how strong his candidacy is among Republicans. He appeals to different parts of the party, as evidenced by the fact that he succeeded in two very different contests in two fairly different states.

Iowa is a low…