New Hampshire Republican primary – what to expect and what it can tell us

New Hampshire voters are headed to the polls on Tuesday. After Donald Trump’s landslide victory in the Iowa caucus last week, his top rival for the Republican nomination – the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley – hopes to make a splash in the critical primary state.

But the Republican primary is not the only contest being held in New Hampshire on Tuesday. New Hampshire Democrats are moving forward with their own primary, one with a major asterisk: Joe Biden’s name will not appear on the ballot as the Democratic National Committee has said that the New Hampshire primary is “meaningless” after party officials moved to make South Carolina the first voting state.

Here is everything you need to know about the New Hampshire primary:

How is the New Hampshire primary different from the Iowa caucuses?

New Hampshire will hold the first primary election of the 2024 election cycle, while Iowa held the first caucuses of the Republican nominating contest. In a caucus, each voter is required to appear in person at a specific precinct location to cast a ballot, as the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly explained earlier this month.

A primary is much more straightforward, with polling locations across the state open for a set number of hours to allow voters to cast their ballots. Because of the relative ease of voting and the option for undeclared voters to participate in either party’s primary, New Hampshire generally sees higher turnout than Iowa.

In 2020, roughly 176,000 Iowans participated in the Democratic caucuses, while nearly 300,000 New Hampshire voters participated in the Democratic primary. The turnout gap is particularly notable considering Iowa’s population is more than twice the size of New Hampshire’s.

Which Republican candidates are on the ballot?

Two dozen candidates filed the necessary paperwork to appear on the Republican primary ballot in New Hampshire, but the overwhelming majority of votes are expected to be cast for Haley and Trump.

DeSantis dropped out of the race on Sunday, just two days before the primary, after it was clear the downward trajectory of his campaign could not be revived in New Hampshire. He joined other candidates who had ended their presidential bids. After their disappointing performances in Iowa, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson both dropped out of the Republican primary. Their names will still appear on the ballot, as will the names of other former candidates like the former vice-president Mike Pence and the South Carolina senator Tim Scott.

Are New Hampshire Democrats also holding a primary?

Yes, but it’s complicated. The Democratic National Committee voted last year to designate South Carolina as the party’s first primary state moving forward, while New Hampshire would have the opportunity to vote second.

The decision outraged New Hampshire Democrats, who insist they will not go along with the national party’s plan to rob them of their “first-in-the-nation” status. As a result, the New Hampshire Democratic party decided to hold its primary the same day as the Republican primary in defiance of the DNC’s decision.

The DNC has criticized the New Hampshire primary as a sham, calling on the state party to “educate the public” that the contest “is a non-binding presidential preference event and is meaningless”. The New Hampshire attorney general, Republican John Formella, in turn sent a cease-and-desist letter to the DNC to compel the organization to stop making “false, deceptive and misleading” claims about the primary.

Because of the standoff, Biden’s name will not appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot, although many Democrats still plan to vote for him as