For independent voter Nancy Haigh, an 89-year-old Bow resident, choosing Nikki Haley was a strategic move to divert votes away from Donald Trump and thwart his third campaign to be president.

“I voted for Nikki Haley so Trump won’t get it,” Haigh said as she walked out of the Bow Community Center. “Nikki is strong, caring and competent.”

Bow has consistently leaned left, compared to the more conservative Dunbarton. The neighboring towns share a school system.

In the 2016 general election, Bow favored Hillary Clinton with 52%, while 43% voted for Trump. But, Dunbarton voted resoundingly for Trump, with 57% supporting him compared to Clinton’s 38%.

In Dunbarton, David Porter, 67, who says he has never swayed from the Democratic ballot, this time voted for Haley, just like Haigh over in Bow.

“Aside from being the only one countering Trump in a valid way in this election, I think she’s a globalist,” said Porter outside the Dunbarton community center. “I think that Trump’s policy boosting the tariffs from the Chinese are way too drastic.”

Porter said he is undecided about Biden because he has not launched his campaign yet.

Preventing the repeat of a Trump-Biden election was another reason residents voted for Haley.

Lauren Spitsberg, a Hopkinton resident, chose Haley because she felt the former South Carolina governor was a better option than Trump or Biden, who isn’t even on the ballot.

“I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Biden or Trump, and I felt like it was against my own integrity to vote for either of them because I was really against both of their belief systems,” Spitsberg said at Hopkinton Middle/High School with her four children by her side. “I really would be so devastated to see another Trump-Biden election.”

Across the three towns, choosing Haley was not necessarily out of unwavering support but as a pragmatic choice given the available alternatives. However, for some voters, even if Haley presented as an interesting alternative, they stuck with their men.

“I don’t know if we’re quite ready for a woman but she carries herself very well. If Trump wasn’t on the ballot, I would have voted for her,” said Bryan Clark, a Republican from Dunbarton.

Clark voted for the former president with confidence that he will uphold his promises and follow through on what he says.

“I like what he did for the four years he was there,” said Clark. “I don’t care for his tweets, but I like what he got done. The stock market did well, the economy was good and people had work.”