New Hampshire was the first colony to declare independence from England. Captain John Smith named it after Hampshire, England. Being home to the first free public library in 1833 and Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., who was the first American to travel in space in 1959, the state now plays an important part in U.S. elections.
With 1.327 million people residing in the state, New Hampshire has had four electoral votes since 1884. It is surrounded by blue states, but has remained a swing state in past elections. In 2012, Barak Obama was only six points ahead of Mitt Romney.
To garner votes, Hillary Clinton sponsored commercials that show her softer side, especially after the Orlando shooting that happened earlier this summer. According to the New York Times, Donald Trump was late to airing commercials after Labor Day in New Hampshire. The few ads he did release showed the current turmoil in America. Clinton has spent $65.8 million on local broadcast television in nine swing states, with New Hampshire being one of them; this amount significantly dwarfs what little Trump has spent.
Clinton and Trump visited New Hampshire almost equally. According to NECN, Trump visited the state several more times than Clinton with a total of 29 visits, compared to Clinton’s 23. However, Clinton stopped in New Hampshire 86 times, while Trump stopped 46 times.
New Hampshire is making the candidates focus on jobs and the economy when addressing their state. According to WMUR, the wage issue is an important priority. Democrats have been pushing the fact that the unemployment rate is going down, while Republicans stress that not enough jobs have been created.
An NBC/WSJ/Marist poll taken on September 6th to the 8th showed Clinton was only one point ahead of Trump in New Hampshire. Previous polls showed much larger gaps. Clinton on average is 7.2 points ahead of Trump. The state has voted Democrat for the last three presidential elections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-political-ads.html
http://www.necn.com/news/politics/New-Hampshire-Candidate-Tracker-295977311.html
http://www.politico.com/2016-election/swing-states
http://www.wmur.com/politics/jobs-economy-top-priorities-in-presidential-campaign/37498380
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