Fewer candidates headed into the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday, February 9th. For the GOP, Rick Santorum and Rand Paul have joined Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker in dropping out of the 2016 presidential race. Huckabee, Santorum, and Paul have dropped out following poor results in the Iowa Caucuses on February 1st. While Paul finished in fifth place, Santorum finished in 11th place with only one percent support, despite having won in Iowa in 2012. Huckabee, meanwhile, had only 1.8 percent support. The Democratic Party is also experiencing this reduction in candidates. Martin O’Malley announced on February 1st that he was dropping out of the presidential race after lacking support in the Iowa caucuses. O’Malley received less than one percent support in Iowa, and did not support either of his opponents after his announcement. After the New Hampshire primary, Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie ended their presidential campaigns.
As the lesser-known candidates drop out, more successful candidates are able to gain more followers. While the GOP still has plenty of candidates remaining, the departure of Santorum, Huckabee, Paul, Walker, Christie, and Fiorina “give all the Republican candidates more opportunity and has the potential to bring up Rubio,” says WHHS senior Shayla Nolan.
Americans will be provided with more opportunities to see how much support each candidate has among members of their party with future debates.