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Trivia answer
Since 1976, how many presidential candidates have won the New Hampshire primary and their party's nomination after losing the Iowa caucuses?
a. Zero
b. Three
c. Six
d. Eight
Since the 1976 presidential election, both parties' presidential nominating processes have started with the Iowa caucuses followed by a presidential primary in New Hampshire. During that time, there have been six candidates who did not finish with the most votes in Iowa but went on to win the New Hampshire primary and the nomination. Of those candidates, three (Ronald Reagan (R) in 1980, George H.W. Bush (R) in 1988, and Donald Trump (R) in 2016) ended up winning the presidency.
During the same period of time, five candidates finished first in the Iowa caucuses before losing the New Hampshire primaries and winning the presidential nomination. Two of those candidates (George W. Bush (R) in 2000 and Barack Obama (D) in 2008) went on to win the presidency. The only candidate to win the nomination after losing both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary was Bill Clinton (D) in 1992.
| Eventual presidential nominees' Iowa and New Hampshire results, 1976-2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Won Iowa | Lost Iowa | |
| Won New Hampshire |  Jimmy Carter (1976)[1] Al Gore (2000) John Kerry (2004) |
 Ronald Reagan (1980) George H.W. Bush (1988) Michael Dukakis (1988) John McCain (2008) Mitt Romney (2012) Donald Trump (2016)
|
| Lost New Hampshire | Walter Mondale (1984) Bob Dole (1996) George W. Bush (2000) Barack Obama (2008) Hillary Clinton (2016) |
Bill Clinton (1992)
|
| During this period, every incumbent president seeking re-election won both Iowa and New Hampshire. | ||
New Hampshire first began holding a primary to select candidates for local and state elections in 1910. Delegates for the state presidential nominating convention were first elected in 1916, while the 1952 election was the first in which voters directly indicated which presidential nominee they favored. Initially, this vote was separate from voters' selection of delegates and did not have any binding result on the nominating process. However, changes to the presidential nominating process following the 1968 election meant that voters could directly select their preferred presidential candidate.[2]
The best performance by a nonincumbent in the New Hampshire primaries was Bernie Sanders' (I) 61% of the vote in the 2016 Democratic primary. Ronald Reagan (R) in 1980 and Al Gore (D) in 2000 follow; each received 50% of the vote.[3]
- ↑ The top result in the 1976 Iowa Democratic caucus was "Uncommitted". Carter followed with the highest vote total of any candidate.
- ↑ University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy, "The First Primary: Why New Hampshire?" December 23, 2019
- ↑ ElectionStats, "New Hampshire Election Stats," accessed February 9, 2020
