Nikki Haley On The Move In Iowa

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Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley is on the move in early-voting Iowa, although there appears to be a ceiling to her ascent.

Haley – the flip-flopping, warmongering favorite of the Republican establishment – is officially polling in double digits in the Hawkeye State, which holds its GOP caucuses on January 15, 2024. According to a new poll released on Friday by Iowa State University, Haley is currently running in third place with 10 percent of likely caucus-goers backing her. That puts her well behind former U.S. president Donald Trump (51 percent) – but well within striking distance of Florida governor Ron DeSantis (14 percent).

Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was in fourth place in the poll with 9 percent while U.S. senator Tim Scott came in fifth at 6 percent.

Of interest? The gap between DeSantis and Haley was well within the poll’s margin of error of 5.8 percentage points.

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Also of interest? When the poll factored in caucus-goers second choices – as well as candidates they were considering voting for – Haley dipped to fifth place behind Ramaswamy and Scott. Only 11 percent listed Haley as their No. 2 choice, compared to 13 percent who said Trump, 16 percent who said Scott, 18 percent who picked Ramaswamy and 21 percent who chose DeSantis.

That means Haley’s potential pool of support in Iowa is smaller than that of her top second-tier rivals.

Take a look …

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Haley spent last week in New Hampshire and South Carolina but is “headed back to Iowa” this week, according to her Twitter page.

“The race right now is clearly President Trump, a small second tier of four candidates — DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, and Scott — and then a lot of candidates without much support at all,” Iowa State political scientist Dave Peterson noted. “Trump’s lead is strong, but it also might be something of a ceiling because most Iowans have strong opinions about him.”

The Iowa State poll surveyed 1,128 registered voters between September 2-7, 2023, but only 434 of them said they would “definitely” or “probably” vote in the caucus. Those are the voters referenced in this report.

“The results are the first in a five-part, monthly poll intended to track shifting voter perspectives before the Iowa caucuses,” the university noted in its release, adding that the next batch of results would be released in mid-October.

Republicans kick off their primary process with the Iowa Caucus on January 15, 2024. New Hampshire’s primary comes eight days later (January 23, 2024) followed by Nevada (February 8, 2024) and South Carolina (February 24, 2024). As for Democrats, they are currently scheduled to kick off their primary process in the Palmetto State on February 3, 2024 followed by New Hampshire and Nevada (February 6, 2024), Georgia (February 13, 2024) and Michigan (February 27, 2024).

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven (soon to be eight) children.

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