(NewsNation) — Republican presidential candidates are headed to New Hampshire after Donald Trump’s landslide win in Iowa, where he won 51% of the vote, 30 points better than Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley.
Democratic strategist James Carville says he’s “not impressed” with Trump’s margin of victory.
“I’m not impressed at all with 51% in a state that is known to be older and white and Republican,” Carville said Thursday on “CUOMO.” “I’m not in any way blown away by it.”
Trump won 98 of 99 counties, a stark contrast to 2016, when he finished second in the contest behind Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Trump, the presumed front-runner for the Republican nomination, is polling first in New Hampshire ahead of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
The eventual nominee is likely to face President Joe Biden, who faces no real opposition in the Democratic primaries. Three other Democratic candidates are running, but none have gained major traction in national polling averages.
One person who has, though, is independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A poll in January found 21% of voters would support him in a hypothetical three-way matchup against Trump and Biden.
“I think the third party’s going to get a lot of votes,” Carville said of this year’s general election. “There’s gonna be a more-than-usual hunger for an alternative to the two major parties right now, and it’s kind of hard to deny that when you look across the spectrum of the research we have.”
Carville says Kennedy could be a “convenient parking place” for voters who are dissatisfied with their other options.
“Sometimes, people vote in elections, in particularly presidential elections, for reasons other than to elect the president They vote as kind of a protest vote,” Carville said. “I do feel like this is very, very ripe for a significant third party vote. I really do.”
