New Hampshire residents don't like being told what to do. It even says so on the license plate—and that motto, “Live Free or Die,” spells trouble for Hillary Clinton.

“Politically, we are an ornery lot. We relish the opportunity to challenge the media’s tired parade of the same political elite,” said Nashua resident Greg Montine. “We have always hated being told who to vote for.”

Herb Pence, a railroad retiree turned freelance transportation writer and a longtime resident of Manchester, put it simply: “We don’t like coronations.”

The scenario was decidedly different in January 2008. Having won the Iowa Caucus Barack Obama, had become the frontrunner and showed signs of running the table. New Hampshire expressed its independence by delivering its first-in-the-nation primary to then-Senator Hillary Clinton, 39.1 to 36.5 percent. But today, Clinton is an even more formidable frontrunner than Obama was, and recent polls suggests the state's independent streak might boost Clinton's upstart opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

If the New Hampshire primary were held today, according to a Suffolk University poll released Tuesday, 41 percent of Democrats would vote for Clinton, versus 31 percent for Sanders. These results align with a Morning Consult poll released Sunday, which showed a lead of 44 to 32 percent for Clinton. In the Suffolk poll, Clinton has the lion’s share of women voters (47 to 28 percent), but among pollees who say they are familiar with both candidates, Clinton is ahead by only three points. Among likely voters who identified themselves as “moderate” in the Suffolk poll, Clinton is ahead of Sanders by 20 points; among self-described “liberals,” they are tied with 39 percent.