Will Trump hurt NH Republicans?

As the last Republican candidate standing, Trump is all but guaranteed the nomination for president. His controversial campaign may pose a challenge for New Hampshire Republicans.

In presidential election years, support for a party's presidential nominee generally trickles down to the other races. However, an April poll from the University of New Hampshire showed that 75% in New Hampshire had an unfavorable opinion of Trump, and only 31% said they would vote for him in an election against Hillary Clinton. Those numbers suggest that Trump won't draw a lot of Republican voters to the polls. On the contrary, opposition to Donald Trump might help increase Democratic voter turnout.

Gov. Maggie Hassan's campaign is already invoking Trump to criticize Sen. Kelly Ayotte.

"We will be working as hard as we can to make sure that voters understand the difference between the Trump-Ayotte ticket and the vision of the future of this country that we want to put forward," said Hassan. 

Ayotte has said she will "support" Trump but will not "endorse" him. 

On the other hand, Trump has repeatedly defied political analysts' expectations.

Talking about the "establishment," Rep. Steve Stepanek said, "Now they have to resign themselves to the fact that the Republican voters in New Hampshire, and, ultimately, the Republican voters in this country, wanted Donald Trump. Now they are saying he can't beat Hillary Clinton. We'll see." 

GOP strategist Tom Rath similarly told the Concord Monitor, "I know some of my Democratic friends are high-fiving each other today, and my advice for them is to be careful.  Every now and then, you find someone who transcends the rules and breaks the rules, and he is it."