David Jackson

USA TODAY

MANCHESTER, N.H. — The nation's smallest battleground state has only four electoral votes, but they are probably essential to Donald Trump's presidential hopes.

Facing an increasingly narrow path to victory against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Trump needs to win just about all of the states in which he is competitive to assemble the 270 electoral votes necessary to capture the presidency.

While current polls give Clinton the edge, Trump told backers who packed a hotel ballroom in Manchester that "we're going to have a great big victory in New Hampshire."

Devoting most of his speech to news that the FBI is again reviewing Clinton's use of a private email system, Trump predicted that voters would turn against the "corrupt" former secretary of State. He also denounced "dirty polls," saying the size of his crowds are evidence of his momentum.

New emails under review in Clinton case emerged from Weiner probe

Trump's need for every electoral vote he can muster includes tiny New Hampshire, where he is currently considered an underdog.

"New Hampshire is acting its normal part: a bellwether with kind of a Democratic lean to it," said Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire.

Trump does have some advantages here. They include an organization that propelled the New York businessman to an easy victory in the state's Republican primary in February, a pivotal win in his march to the party's presidential nomination. His anti-establishment politics also play well in parts of flinty and frugal New Hampshire.

Poll: Trump chipping away at Clinton's lead

Trump, who has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior, is also having trouble with female voters in New Hampshire, and college-educated voters of both genders.

The RealClearPolitics average of recent polls gives Clinton a 6.5-point lead in the state.

Trump sought to make his final campaign argument during his remarks in New Hampshire, which is that Clinton is irredeemably "crooked" and the embodiment of a political establishment that has failed the American people on items ranging from immigration policy to bad trade deals that have cost jobs. The New York businessman has also outlined an agenda that includes tax cuts, reduced business regulations, and lobbying restrictions designed to "drain the swamp" of "corruption" in Washington, D.C.

As he has in previous appearances in the state, Trump also addressed a major New Hampshire-centric issue, an epidemic of heroin and opioid use.

In many ways, New Hampshire is a sentimental journey for Trump. He scored his first political victory of 2016 here, eight days after losing the Iowa caucuses to Ted Cruz.

In the general election, however, Trump is fighting recent history in the state: Democrats have carried the state in five of the last six presidential elections.

Trump faces a huge financial disadvantage in the election's final sprint

Barack Obama won the state twice, as did Bill Clinton. George W. Bush took New Hampshire for the Republicans in 2000 — an Al Gore victory here would have rendered the Florida recount irrelevant — but Democrat John Kerry snatched it back for the Democrats four years later.

For Trump, New Hampshire is only one stop on his every-electoral-vote-counts tour on Friday. He also campaigned in Maine, where he hopes to carry the most votes in one of the state's two congressional districts, which would entitle him to a single electoral vote.

Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, said Clinton has been consistently ahead by at least 3 or 4 points in recent weeks. Trump's best hope for a comeback may be with people who have not been involved in politics before.

"He's got to look for people who normally don't vote," Levesque said. "He may be able to do that; but so far, not so good."

Polls or no polls, Trump supporters who saw him in Manchester remained confident about both New Hampshire and the nation as a whole. Many have absorbed Trump's warnings about the specter of voter fraud and a "rigged" election, and do not believe surveys showing him behind.

"God makes miracles out of all this mayhem," said Maria Silva-Hatch, 70, a retired financial adviser from Fremont, N.H. "Hillary is poison — unethical."

Dennis Krause, 70, a retired engineer from Atkinson, N.H., said Trump is an underdog only "if you look at the polls," and they are "deceptive." Krause added that Trump is an "underdog when it comes to the news media, too."

Jenny Cheung, 46, who drove to the Manchester event from Braintree, Mass., said, "we don't buy the polls — sorry. ... This is a grassroots campaign."

It also appears to be a divided one, as prominent New Hampshire officials have criticized Trump.

Former governor John Sununu Sr., spoke at the Trump event, as did former senator Bob Smith; but the current New Hampshire GOP nominees for those offices — Sununu's son Chris and incumbent Sen. Kelly Ayotte — did not take the stage, and were not spotted in the crowd.

The elder Sununu also warned the crowd that, currently, Trump is a local underdog: "We're not ahead in New Hampshire, yet. We need your help."

A loss in New Hampshire augurs poorly for Trump nationally, analysts said.

"I guess he could lose New Hampshire and still win," Scala said, "but it would really be threading the needle."