Donald Trump’s Rally Crowd Size Mocked by Republican—’Wasn’t Even That Big’

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu mocked the crowd size at Donald Trump’s Saturday night rally that the former president held ahead of the state’s primary election.

Trump, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have been campaigning in New Hampshire in hopes of gaining some last-minute voters ahead of Tuesday’s primary election. During the Iowa caucuses on Monday, DeSantis and Haley received 21.2 percent and 19.1 percent of voter support, respectively. Trump, meanwhile, garnered 51 percent of voter support in Iowa.

“It wasn’t even that big of a rally. The guy had to curtain off half of the stadium, so it didn’t look empty, and then flies out of here,” Sununu, a Trump critic who endorsed Haley’s presidential run, told Kristen Welker during an interview appearance on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday.

However, contrary to the Republican governor’s comments, Trump supporters on social media raved about Saturday night’s crowd size and rally, which was held at Southern New Hampshire University’s arena in Manchester.

Clare Lopez, board member of the Citizens Commission on National Security, posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday: “No one in America today gets this kind of enthusiasm from this size crowd as President Donald Trump does, rally after rally, all over the country.”

Elad Hakim, an attorney and conservative columnist wrote on X, “Good Sunday morning! Judging from the size of the crowd at the rally yesterday, it is safe to say that Trump still has tremendous clout! The NH primary is on Tuesday! Trump supporters must come out & vote!”

Newsweek reached out to Sununu, along with the Haley and Trump campaigns, via email on Sunday afternoon.

According to the Southern New Hampshire University Arena’s homepage, the venue can hold about 12,000 people for centerstage concerts. Boston’s CBS affiliate, WBZ, reported that some Trump supporters were turned away from Saturday’s rally after it reached capacity just after 6 p.m. Total attendance figures for the event have not yet been released.

Meanwhile, a New Hampshire poll published on Sunday showed the former president jumping to 11 points ahead of Haley in the Granite State. In early January, a CNN/University of New Hampshire (UNH) poll showed her trailing Trump by just 7 points.

Some pundits believe Haley must stay within a single-digit margin against Trump in New Hampshire before Tuesday’s primary shifts to Haley’s home state of South Carolina.

According to RealClearPolitics polling averages, Haley faces an uphill battle in her home state, trailing Trump by an average of 52 percent to her 21.8 percent.

Dr. Scott Huffmon, director of The Winthrop Poll initiative at Winthrop University in South Carolina, told Newsweek on Saturday, “She needs to have an incredible showing in New Hampshire and keep within single digits. She is popular here [in South Carolina] and has incredible favorability ratings. There are a lot of people here that love Nikki Haley that just want Donald Trump to be president again.”

Trump was joined at Saturday’s rally by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, along with the state’s lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer and House speaker. South Carolina Representatives Joe Wilson, William Timmons and Russell Fry also attended.

“Almost every politician from South Carolina is endorsing me,” the former president bragged at the rally.

During his Meet the Press appearance on Sunday, Sununu praised Haley’s ground game compared to her Republican rivals heading into this week’s primary.

“We’re focused on the next 72 hours. She’s crisscrossing the state, hitting every voter, and nobody else is doing that. She’s doing this in a fundamentally different way,” he said.