Inside the once blue heartland that could be surprise swing state - as Dems prepare to do the unimaginable

New Hampshire has barely been mentioned in this presidential race, but a recent bump in Donald Trumps polling suggests the Republican is reversing his opponents comfortable lead and could even flip the state in a dramatic upset on Tuesday.

In Concord, the state capital, GOP organizers have run out of Trump yard signs due to unexpected demand. In Pelham, scores of locals turned out to wave Trump flags, blast out rock anthems and feast on pizza and cookies on Wednesday night.

Down the road, motorists honked horns and stopped to take photos of a home-made yard sign presenting Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, as the goofy Dumb and Dumber characters from the 1994 movie.

Republican campaigners in the Granite State describe an eleventh-hour surge of enthusiasm for Trump thats quickly erasing the roughly six percentage-point lead that Harris enjoyed here until recently.

Voters across New Hampshire told DailyMail.com they sensed momentum gathering behind the MAGA icon, and that his promises of a secure southern border and cheaper groceries and housing were resonating.

Trump supporters came out in force for the former president in Pelham on Wednesday night, as polling shifted in the Republicans favor

Joshua Hunkins, 40, a disabled marine veteran, says immigrants are getting the benefits that would otherwise be available to needy Americans like him

Joshua Hunkins, 40, a disabled marine veteran, who lives with his mom, brother, and other family in Amherst, voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 but will switch to Trump on Tuesday because of his concerns over rampant unchecked immigration.

Its drained us of money, Hunkins told DailyMail.com.

I know people who work here illegally. They get put up in a hotel, food stamps and money on a credit card. Im a disabled veteran and I cant get that. I cant even afford to get my own place.

Hunkins says he regrets voting for Biden and wants Trump in the White House to deport a bunch of these people and likely be more generous with the social security and disability payments he needs to make ends meet.

Likewise, Jim Olivera, 58, a Walmart employee and writer, says he previously voted Democrat but has switched because of their poor economic record and will vote for Trump on Tuesday.

Theyre not doing a very good job right now, Olivera, of Manchester, told DailyMail.com.

We gotta import more than we export. Were making bad deals with China. Theyre buying up everything, including Walmart, and land on military bases.

Olivera still supports some liberal social policies, but says hes not a fan of Harris because shes not pulling the strings and somebody behind the scenes is telling her what to say.

He also questions Trumps character, but predicts the Republican will win New Hampshire and the presidency and steer America on a different course to its current dangerous trajectory.

Somethings amiss, he said. Somethings not right in the moral code of the country right now.

Any Trump victory in New Hampshire will also involve turning out first-time voters, such as Mark Rittgers, a computer science student at the University of New Hampshire (UNH).

The 19-year-old plans to debut at the ballot box with a GOP vote on Tuesday.

I want to be able to buy a house when I graduate, and New Hampshire is very expensive. Even buying groceries can be a struggle, says Rittgers, a socially conservative Catholic who wants to get married and start a family.

Lower prices with Trump would help a lot.

Franconia Notch in Franconia, New Hampshire, is stunning in fall 

Jim Olivera, 58, a Walmart employee and part-time writer, says hes waved goodbye to Democrats due to their weak economic record and will vote for Trump in the upcoming presidential election.

Some 125 Trump supporters showed out in southeast New Hampshire to encourage passing motorists to honk their horns

One of the attendees of Pelhams flag-raising event spent the whole day decorating Donald Trump cookies

In southeastern New Hampshire, motorists honked their horns and stopped to take photos of this snarky yard sign about Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. 

Liam Weldon, 27, a parking enforcement officer from Sanbornton, a small town in the rural north of the state, says he may well buck the trend of his Democrat-leaning family on Tuesday

Liliana Furtado, 17, says young voters will turn out for Trump because they want a stronger economy. Pictured here at a flag-raising event in Pelham with her grandmother, Lisha Furtado 

An outlier poll from the New Hampshire Journal/Praecones Analytica on Sunday gave Trump 50.2 percent of the vote in the state of 1.4 million people, putting him for the first time ahead of Harris, at 49.8 percent.

That would put New Hampshire in the same group as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and others — a crucial swing state that will determine who gets the keys to the White House in January 2025.

New Hampshire only carries four out of 538 electoral college votes, but Trump flipping the state from blue to red could prove decisive nationally, given the razor-thin margin the 2024 election is being fought on.

Liliana Furtado, 17, a high schooler from Pelham who plans to study political science, senses a surge in enthusiasm for Trump, saying everybodys excited and ready to get out there and vote for the Republican.

An outlier poll from the New Hampshire Journal/Praecones Analytica on Sunday gave Trump 50.2 percent of the vote in the state of 1.4 million people, putting him for the first time ahead of Harris, at 49.8 percent.

That would put New Hampshire in the same group as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and others — a crucial swing state that will determine who gets the keys to the White House in January 2025.

New Hampshire only carries four out of 538 electoral college votes, but Trump flipping the state from blue to red could prove decisive nationally, given the razor-thin margin the 2024 election is being fought on.

People in my generation want to move out of home in a few years and live in the real world, but houses in my town cost like $800,000 — thats a lot of money, Furtado said.

With Trump, well have the best economy and prices are gonna go down.

Furtado spoke as one of some 125 locals waving Trump flags at a roundabout in Pelham, in the southeast of the state. The event had the carnival atmosphere of a Trump rally, with music, costumes, cardboard cutouts, and lots of fist bumping.

Her concerns about living costs were echoed across a state, which, like the rest of America, has seen price hikes of everything from eggs to gasoline and car insurance under Bidens watch.

New Hampshire residents are sensitive to this because they are financially typical of the nation at large — the average home sells for $500,000 and personal incomes are typically $74,000.

Still, that masks big differences between high earners in the states finance and insurance sectors around Manchester and Concord, and those living in rust belt towns with shuttered mills and mines.

Liam Weldon, 27, a parking enforcement officer from Sanbornton, a small town in the rural north of the state, says he comes from a Democrat-leaning family but he may well vote Republican on Tuesday.

Trump definitely appeals more to the lower class voters with his tax-cutting, border-security platform, said Weldon. He predicts that Harris will win the state, but with much closer margins than is expected.

I dont know if its going to be the highest turnout weve ever seen, but itll blow previous metrics out of the water.

Neil Miller, 72, has voted Republican for decades and says he will do so again on Tuesday, hoping Trump will once again bump up the social security payouts he needs to keep the lights on and feed his beloved Labrador, Zorro.

Trump takes care of the seniors, said the divorced retiree. The liberals wont.

Ross Mingarelli, 39, the owner of three small businesses in Warner, calls Trump a loose cannon with some character flaws but that he values his record as commander-in-chief from 2017-2021.

Trump protected our country better, Mingarelli said.

I feel like our nation has been more vulnerable. I wouldnt be surprised if we got attacked ourselves.

First-time voter John Pat, 20, says hes an independent who is not sure who to vote for, as he appreciates both liberal and conservative policies

Neil Miller, 72, pictured with his beloved Labrador, Zorro, expects Trump to be generous to seniors

Business owner Ross Mingarelli, 39, says America needs Trumps firm hand on foreign policy in an unstable world

New Hampshire has not been seen as winnable for the GOP candidate, who has not campaigned in the state since this rally in January

A Trump supporter at the drive-by event in Pelham, New Hampshire, holding a bust of the former president

John Pat, 20, will cast a ballot for the first time on Tuesday. He calls himself an independent who will most likely vote for Harris, even as he appreciates such GOP priorities as cutting red tape and balancing budgets.

Ive seen houses all over put up Trump yard signs, but its hard to tell whos going to win here, said Pat, a UNH mechanical engineering student, in Manchester.

A Trump victory in New Hampshire would be a huge turnaround. The state has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since George W. Bush in 2000. In 2020, Biden easily beat Trump with a seven-point margin.

As a result, neither candidate has spent much time in the state. Climate activists heckled Trump during his most recent New Hampshire rally, in Manchester in January. Harris campaigned at a women-owned brewery in North Hampton, a liberal-leaning coastal town, in September.

But there have been close call New Hampshire presidential votes in recent memory. Hillary Clinton only managed to beat Trump by just 2,736 votes here in 2016.

This feels much more like 2016 than 2020, said Chris Ager, chairman of the state Republican Party.

New Hampshires Trump voters are often loath to tell a pollster about their preferred candidate, says Agers. Also, the electorate is well-informed, he added, and wary of Democrats raising taxes and letting biological males compete on girls school sports teams.

He and other GOP strategists told The Mail that Trump could well flip the state.

Campaigners are knocking on doors, cold calling and using the web to track down irregular voters statewide. Claremont, Berlin, and other smaller, remote towns with economic problems could well yield uncounted Republican votes, they said.

This cycle, New Hampshire has an unusually high-profile race for governor, pitting Republican former senator Kelly Ayotte against Manchesters former Democratic mayor, Joyce Craig. This could boost turnout on November 5, which may favor Trump.

Yet others caution against such optimism. Some observers point to Trumps relatively poor showing in the primary vote in January, which he won, but not without rival Nikki Haley getting 43 percent, one of her best results.

The states main GOP office in Concord handed out thousands of Trump yard signs and ran out of them because of an unexpected surge in demand, campaigners said

Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris rallied at the Throwback Brewery, in North Hampton, New Hampshire, on September 4

GOP voters brought along a bear with a likeness of Donald Trump in support of the former president

Owners even took their pooches to the flag-raising jamboree, sporting Trump 2024 campaign logos

Several state GOP heavyweights have also endorsed Harris, citing concerns about Trumps divisiveness and instability. They include former federal lawmakers Gordon Humphrey and Chuck Douglas, and former attorney general Thomas Rath.

Two of the states leading pollsters — UNHs Andrew Smith and Dean Spiliotes of Southern New Hampshire University — questioned the quality of the Praecones Analytica poll that favored Trump.

An aggregate of all polling numbers still gives Harris a roughly five-point lead, they said.

New Hampshires population centers are in the liberal-leaning south and east, where greater access to abortions and other popular Democratic policies drive voters, said Spiliotes.

Trump could only win here with the stars aligning in a particular way for him, he said.

Smith was blunter still. I would be really be stunned if Trump wins New Hampshire, he told The Mail.

If it happens, that means hes won the country in a landslide, and hes the president.