New Hampshire Primary 'May Be the End' of Nikki Haley’s 2024 Campaign
23:12 GMT 23.01.2024 (Updated: 04:13 GMT 24.01.2024)
© AFP 2023 / CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA
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With the New Hampshire primary happening right now, the nation is about to get a look at what a two-person race between former US President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley looks like.
With the number of supporters steadily increasing for former US President Donald Trump, the road to clinch the GOP nomination for the 2024 election could soon be over for former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, an insider told Sputnik.
If Haley wants to stay competitive in the race, she will need to outperform the polls. The latest polling average from a popular poll aggregator has her down more than 37 points.
Amy DeLaura, a journalist and video director of the Washington Examiner, told Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Tuesday that she believes Haley's fight for the 2024 ticket may be at its end.
After Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out and endorsed Trump on Sunday, DeLaura noted the development not only hurt her because DeSantis supporters would likely go to Trump, but it also prevented her from claiming a moral victory in New Hampshire that she could have used to build momentum going into her home state of South Carolina.
“It's a two-person race now. So she doesn't have the whole point with, 'Look, I'm beating DeSantis who a year ago was the man,'” DeLaura explained. “Now, even if she does get second place - because that's all there is to get now, I don't think it's going to help her. I think this may be the end of her campaign, and she's not going to make it to South Carolina.”
Haley appeals to moderates, DeLaura said, but she will need more than that to defeat Trump.
“We've been speaking to voters who are saying, 'No, we want someone who [is] a real Republican.' They're calling her RINO [Republican In Name Only] when we speak to voters…. But I would say her biggest problem is just that Trump has this incredible fan base here in New Hampshire. And even with the governor's support here [for Haley] - Chris Sununu - it just doesn't seem to be enough.”
Another big problem Haley had, DeLaura added later, was that she wasn’t consistent in her messaging, calling her a “fair-weather fan.”
“Like the time she said, 'We need to have identities for everybody on the internet.' And people just lost it. She couldn't even explain it, walked it back, and there are so many moments on the campaign trail where she has done that,” DeLaura recalled. “It just really lost her, I think, some of the more Republican votes. But she's going to need those votes in order to get a majority.”
Fault Lines co-host Jamarl Thomas asked DeLaura what she thinks Haley wants to get out of her campaign since the nomination is looking less likely.
“So, if you were to ask me that question three months ago, I would have said the vice presidency. But I think it's too late now. I think Trump holds grudges. He fields loyalty, he says that all the time in his speeches, on his little Truth Social posts,” she explained. “Loyalty is very important, and I think it's absolutely too late for Nikki Haley to jump on his ticket. I really think that's what she was running for initially.”
On the issue of who will be Trump’s vice president, DeLaura, Thomas and fellow co-host Melik Abdul agreed that Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) should be on his short list if he can get married before the election.
“I think he knows he has to be married, or at least engaged before he goes to the White House, and he's locking it down,” DeLaura said. “Everyone was saying 'oh, he's too nice to be president' but he'd be a really good balance, I think, to Trump[.]”
Most New Hampshire polling sites will close at 7 p.m. local time, but some will remain open until 8 p.m.
