New Hampshire race: Right-leaning independents divided on GOP pick ahead of first-in-the-nation primary

New Hampshire independent voters Daryl D'Angelo, Andrea Cahill and Brian Henchey told Fox News about their preferred candidates and the issues driving them to the polls on Tuesday.

Three New Hampshire Independents say they're casting their ballot for a Republican in the first-in-the-nation primary slated to take place this week, but none agree on who is most fit to face off against President Biden this November.

"I'm probably leaning toward Nikki Haley," Daryl D'Angelo, one independent voter, told "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host Will Cain on Sunday. 

"It's a lean because I'm looking for foreign policy experience. I'm looking for youth. By youth, I mean not geriatric, and it's [my choice is] not carved in stone. I'm not hearing enough about immigration reform from anybody. I'm hearing a lot about control of the border, but that's not enough of an answer, so I can't guarantee what I'm going to do," she continued.

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D'Angelo has historically voted for both parties, clarifying that she dislikes both and is a true independent. Behind Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is her second choice. 

"But I am going to be [voting] in the Republican primary," she clarified. 

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Andrea Cahill, another self-described independent, is voting for Trump this time. She referenced his rally in Manchester, where he appeared the night before, and said his takes on issues like the fentanyl crisis helped shape her opinion.

"Border, fentanyl, inflation," she said. "Here in New Hampshire, we have very high inflation. People are really struggling, with housing and rental costs as well as the fentanyl crisis."

Fentanyl poisoning claimed the life of Cahill's 19-year-old son, Tyler, after he took a drug he believed to be Percocet to relieve pain from a recent tattoo, The New York Times reported last year.

"We lost his dad a year later from the trauma of that," she said. 

"Many families across New Hampshire and across the country are suffering greatly from the fentanyl crisis and the border. President Trump addressed last night in Manchester, on day one, he will close the border. He will enact the Navy and start trying to curb the fentanyl from coming into the country."

Cahill said, instead of continuing to call herself an independent voter, she is making the switch to the GOP for good.

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Meanwhile, independent voter Brian Henchey said he is in Gov. Ron DeSantis' corner and will be voting for him on Tuesday.

"He is the only candidate running who has actually taken debt seriously in the state of Florida by paying it down by almost 25%. He also is very serious about closing down the border, making sure the drug traffickers are shut down," he explained.

"Let's not forget that Donald Trump said of New Hampshire that it's a drug-infested den, so I don't think Donald Trump really has the best idea of what New Hampshire is," he continued.

"Obviously, fentanyl has been a big problem here, but my biggest issue here is to make sure that we have a sane fiscal policy in the country. Even Donald Trump, who is a Republican who's supposed to actually care about how much our government spends, added $8 trillion to the national debt, so I'm sick and tired of Republicans who give lip service to not spending a lot of money. They get elected into office, and then they spend money like crazy. So I'm ready to have a real fiscal conservative and the only one like that in this race is Ron DeSantis."

According to information from the New Hampshire Secretary of State's office, undeclared voters must select either a Democratic or Republican ballot to make their choices. 

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