Opinion | What New Hampshire Republicans Want

Donald Trump won Iowa and wants to win New Hampshire and seal up the nomination. Nikki Haley wants to come from behind, win New Hampshire, and gain some momentum before heading to her home state of South Carolina.

What matters to people in New Hampshire? How has the state’s Republican Party, which gets a major say in the politics of the rest of the country, changed over the last decade with Mr. Trump in the mix? New Hampshire is a very different state from Iowa: In New England, they’re less interested in abortion, and more interested in the kinds of working-class populism once espoused by a figure like Pat Buchanan and now personified (if not exemplified) by Donald Trump. So I spoke with Dante Scala, a professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire and an expert in presidential primaries and New Hampshire politics.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity and is part of an Opinion Q. and A. series exploring modern conservatism today, its influence in society and politics and how and why it differs (and doesn’t) from the conservative movement that most Americans thought they knew.

Jane Coaston: We spoke just before the Iowa caucus and you said that you believed that Nikki Haley was in a strong second place in New Hampshire after Chris Christie’s exit from the race. What did you make of the Iowa results?

Dante Scala: Haley will have to improve her performance markedly among New Hampshire conservatives in order to succeed here. The split between moderates and conservatives out in Iowa regarding Haley was eye-popping.

[Before the caucuses, Mr. Scala also mentioned that if Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy also dropped out before the New Hampshire primary, as has since happened, it could be a problem for Ms. Haley in New Hampshire.]