He's leading most New Hampshire polls, but Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has spent less time in the state than all but two of his competitors.
According to necn's 2016 Candidate Tracker, Trump has visited 25 times and made a total of 31 stops. The only candidates who have been there fewer times are Rick Santorum (18 stops) and Mike Huckabee (nine), neither of whom are mounting a serious campaign in the Granite State.
In fact, several candidates who have already dropped out of the race — Lindsey Graham (176 stops), George Pataki (100) and Rick Perry (45) — have spent more time in New Hampshire than the Republican frontrunner.
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Recent polls have have Trump leading in New Hampshire by as much as 18 to 20 percentage points, with a RealClearPolitics average showing him with a 17.7-point edge in January.
Trump's ability to remain atop the polls without meeting a large number of New Hampshire voters has some concerned it could hurt the state's first-in-the-nation status, according to the Boston Globe. The newspaper even pointed out that Trump has "rarely even spent the night in New Hampshire" during the campaign.
"He's just parachuting in and leaving," longtime GOP operative Ryan Williams said. "A Trump victory would give some ammunition to other states who are jealous about New Hamphire's status."
Chris Christie is currently leading the Republican field in New Hampshire stops with a total of 156, more than five times as many as Trump.
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"Putting in hours and days is no guarantee it's going to translate into increased poll numbers," Dean Spiliotes, a Southern New Hampshire University political scientist, said back in the fall when Trump was still the frontrunner.
He said that technology, social media and campaign finance has "renationalized the primaries at some level" where candidates can still make connections with voters.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders (76 stops) and Hillary Clinton (69) have spent almost the same amount of time in the state this cycle. Sanders has been atop recent state polls of the Democratic race.
The New Hampshire primary is scheduled for Feb. 9.
Necn's candidate tracker compiles campaign visits collected from media reports, candidate schedules and plans confirmed by the station.
