Miranda Feighery can’t vote in the upcoming presidential election. She’s only 15 years old. But the Washington native traveled the two hours to Bedford on Thursday to see her candidate, Donald Trump, talk about the issue she finds most important this year: safety.
“Immigration and terror are often linked,” Feighery said. “It’s just unethical when you have people coming into the country and you don’t know who they are.”
Feighery was one of several women at the rally drawn to Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, for his stances on national security and immigration.
“National security is huge,” said Cathy Spreeman, who came with her husband from Rochester. “I don’t see how we’re supposed to believe that influxes of thousands of refugees can be vetted successfully in a very short period of time.”
Trump was back in New Hampshire for the fifth time since winning the state’s February primary, trying to shore up support in what is becoming an increasingly competitive race here.
Clinton has consistently led the state, but her margin has thinned to roughly five points, polls show.
Women could be vital to a Trump victory. Clinton leads Trump now among female voters by 26 percentage points – double Trump’s lead among male voters – a recent Monmouth poll shows.
While Clinton has sought to make Trump’s treatment of women central in the campaign, hammering the Republican during Monday’s debate for calling a former pageant winner “Miss Miss Piggy” after she gained weight – those critiques don’t faze supporters.
“Women’s rights to me aren’t at risk,” said Jessica Gurney, a Manchester mom who brought her 11-year-old son, Cole, to the rally. Trump “has more important things he is going to tackle.”
Only a small prize, New Hampshire’s four electoral college votes are becoming increasingly important as recent polls show the race tightening and Trump gaining ground in major battleground states like Florida and Pennsylvania.
While Clinton this week sought to woo millenials in New Hampshire, who make up roughly one-fifth of the electorate, Trump rallied supporters in Bedford. It’s not clear how many undecided voters showed up to the event; most in attendance wore Trump paraphernalia or his signature “Make America Great Again” hats.
Trump focused his state-specific message on stroking voters’ egos, promising to solve New Hampshire’s ongoing opioid crisis by building a border wall with Mexico and predicting he would peel Sanders’s supporters away from Clinton over his opposition to trade deals.
He lauded the crowd for giving him his first victory this election cycle.
“This is a great state. This is where I had my first victory,” he said to a crowd of nearly 1,000 people gathered at the New Hampshire Sportsplex. “We’re going to fulfill every single wish, every single promise. We’re going to do something very, very significant for you.”
Trump didn’t talk much about the recent debate except to say he had to “fight the anchor all the time,” referring to moderator Lester Holt.
His supporters, like Jody Harney, brushed off Clinton’s critiques during the debate, especially those about women.
“I lived through the Bill and Hillary Clinton years,” said Harney, of Milford. “The way she treated the women who were abused by Bill, to me she’s not a friend to women.”
While most voters at the rally had their minds made up, not everyone was dug in.
Across the street from the Sportsplex, just before Trump took the stage, Dezere Rush was smoking a cigarette in the parking lot outside the Gold Club gentlemen’s bar and preparing for her shift.
The 25-year-old entertainer voted for Clinton in the state’s primary, but is thinking she will choose Trump in November.
“Trump is an ass—-, but he probably has my vote,” said Rush, who is from Maine but now lives in Manchester. “He has got a lot of pressure on him, so I don’t think he has any room to fail.”
Rush strayed from Clinton after more information came out about her use of a private email server while secretary of state.
But, Rush cautions, her pick is not set in stone.
“I need to go back and watch the debate, and then make my final choice,” she said.