Riding a wave of voter anger at traditional politicians, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won their respective New Hampshire primaries.
Disenchanted with the economy and Washington politicians, voters in the first two US primary voting races have responded enthusiastically to candidates for the November 8 presidential election they view as outsiders.
The results, though decisive, did little to clear up confusion about who would emerge as the establishment contender to Trump on the Republican side, and the campaign of Sanders' rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were defensive about her future prospects.
Trump's win solidifies his front-runner status in the race to be the party's White House nominee. The former reality television star has been cheered by his supporters for comments that others have derided as politically incorrect.
Trump, 69, has campaigned to deport illegal immigrants and temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.
Trump was in first place with 34 per cent of the vote. Ohio Governor John Kasich, aged 63, who staked the viability of his campaign on the New Hampshire outcome, was in second place with 16 per cent, CNN said, based on an estimated 67 per cent of returns.
Trump congratulated other candidates in the race but promised to soon return to his pugnacious approach. "Tomorrow: boom, boom," he said, shadow boxing while his supporters cheered.
In his victory speech, Trump said Sanders "wants to give away our country." He pledged to have business experts negotiate better trade deals and to "knock the hell out" of Islamic State militants.
Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has called for eradicating income inequality, breaking up the big banks and providing free college tuition.
"Together we have sent the message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, from Maine to California, and that is that the government of our great country belongs to all of the people and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors," Sanders said in his victory speech.
Sanders had 60 per cent of the vote based on 66 per cent of the vote, ahead of former Secretary of State Clinton, who had 38 per cent.
Clinton had for months been the front-runner nationally. But a Reuters/Ipsos poll done Feb 2-5 showed Clinton and Sanders now in a dead heat.
Clinton, 68, congratulated Sanders, 74, in a speech to supporters. She defended her progressive stances and vowed to be the candidate who fixes problems and not just state them.
She appealed to African-American and Latino voters and acknowledged she had work to do winning over young voters.
A logjam of Republican candidates were in a dead heat for third place.
US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who won the Iowa caucus last week, had 12 per cent; former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the son and brother of former presidents, had 11 per cent, and US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida had 10 per cent.
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