Carson supporters urge him to stay in the race

As planes roared overhead, about 20 people stood in the parking lot of the Airplane Diner waiting for presidential candidate Ben Carson in advance of Tuesday’s primary.

Manchester resident Linda Blumberg, 58, who stationed herself outside the restaurant, said she didn’t trust the polls that had Carson in last place.

“I’ve been called numerous times for polls and I hang up,” Blumberg said. “How can they really go and take these polls to heart? I don’t believe the polls.”

Carson received 2.3 percent of Tuesday’s primary vote, putting him in last place among the GOP candidates.

Blumberg said healthcare remains the most important issue in the 2016 presidential election. She said she worries that people with low-income sometimes take advantage of federally funded programs and that she would like the next president to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Despite labeling herself as an undecided voter, Blumberg said would definitely cast her ballot for a Republican on Tuesday, adding that Carson’s appeal lies in his anti-establishment persona.

“I don’t believe a candidate needs to have prior experience before he takes the position of president,” she said. “Look at Ronald Reagan; he was an actor before he became president.”

As Carson left through the diner’s back door, a group of supporters surrounded him, hands outstretched, waiting for their one-on-one moment with the candidate.

Joe Hopkins, from Lincoln, Rhode Island, told Carson to stay in the race.

“He’s bold, he’s brash, he’s calm and he’s reasonable,” Hopkins said about Carson. “He can out-debate you with just his intelligence.”

Hopkins, along with his wife, Diane, hope to see Carson’s name on the ballot during Rhode Island’s primary. But what if  Carson suspends his campaign before then?

“We never stay home,” Hopkins said, laughing. “We vote every time. We vote early and often.”