By Michael Graham | NH JOURNAL

The three most important words in American politics in 2024: “Republicans like Trump.”

The fact was on display yet again in the First in the Nation primary on Tuesday when GOP voters handed former President Donald Trump a double-digit win — and 55 percent of the vote — over former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Trump’s win makes him just the second person to win the primary three times, a fact he celebrated from onstage during his victory speech in Nashua Tuesday night.

“You know we won New Hampshire three times. This is very special to me,” Trump told the crowd. (New Hampshire gave Trump his first-ever election victory in 2016.)

And he’s also the first Republican to win both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary since then-President Gerald Ford in 1976 — both with more than 50 percent of the vote, too.

Haley and her top surrogate, Gov. Chris Sununu, mocked Trump’s win in Iowa by pointing out that only 56,000 voters showed up to caucus on his behalf (though that was more than twice the number who showed up for Haley). But Trump won in New Hampshire with record-setting turnout, undercutting the narrative that he only has the support of the MAGA fringe of the party.

In fact, Trump received more than 170,000 votes from Granite Staters, 70,000 more than in his 2016 victory. It’s also the highest total since Bernie Sanders won.

According to exit polls, only a third of Tuesday’s GOP primary voters considered themselves “MAGA,” but Trump got 55 percent of the total vote. And about 60 percent of the people who turned out on Tuesday said they would be “satisfied” to see Trump as the nominee.