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As the seven Republican candidates seeking their party’s nomination against former president Donald Trump prepare to take the debate stage in Simi Valley, California this week, one of them is riding a wave of momentum.
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley – who served two years as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations – is the candidate on the move in the GOP presidential primary.
Buoyed by a strong showing in the latest “First in the South” polls from her home state of South Carolina, Haley entered debate week with another boost – a resounding showing in the latest “First in the Nation” poll in early-voting New Hampshire.
According to a new poll conducted by Saint Anselm College, Haley is now leading the field of Trump challengers.
“In the wake of the first Republican presidential candidate debate, Haley has moved into second place behind Trump,” the pollsters noted. “She is now the leading alternative to Trump.”
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Haley drew the support of 15 percent of likely primary voters, according to the survey – ahead of Florida governor Ron DeSantis (11 percent) and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (10 percent). Haley also had the second highest net-positive favorability of any candidate (65 percent to 28 percent), which suggests “she has room to grow her support.”
To be clear: Trump is still running away with this race. The presumptive nominee is backed by 45 percent of the primary electorate in New Hampshire. Assuming that support holds, Trump would remain unbeatable in the Granite State – and elsewhere.
“As in 2016, opposition to Trump is diluted over several candidates, preventing the consolidation that would be necessary to deny him a third straight nomination,” said Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
Haley’s momentum is not surprising. She’s run an aggressive, intelligent campaign.
“Say what you will about Haley – and this news outlet has said plenty – but the fact remains she is simply outworking her rivals,” I noted recently. “And running a smarter campaign.”
Haley also appears to have successfully deflected criticism of her her self-serving, opportunistic machinating on key foreign policy planks – while at the same time positioning herself as a thoughtful leader on big ticket items like entitlement reform.
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Will any of that put her within striking distance of Trump? Doubtful … but should anything happen to the former president (which is not out of the realm of possibility for many reasons), she is clearly in position to become the frontrunner for the nomination.
Haley and six other GOP hopefuls will take the stage for their second debate on Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. As our political columnist Mark Powell noted earlier today, the stakes are high.
“With the primary voting season now visibly on the horizon, time is no longer a candidate’s friend,” Powell wrote. “It’s crunch time, people. Every day matters, and every bit of media exposure must count.”
Republicans’ primary process begins 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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7 comments
Nikki has “surged” to within 30 points of the frontrunner. You know, the guy who was just found guilty of staggering financial fraud. A guy who will go on to get beat in an even bigger landslide than the last election.
lol
Republicans are a joke with a never ending punchline.
Donald Trump was always a fraud. The kind of lying he did was so painfully obvious and it was known for years. Lying about property values, square footage, his own personal fortune? This doesn’t even surprise his supporters. They probably see this slimeball behavior as good business sense. Funny they don’t see it that way when they’re being swindled by the local car dealer on a lemon. It’s essentially the same mentality reaching for their wallet.
The fact that he (and his family) will lose his ill gotten fortune and he’ll be spending the rest of his life behind bars is of little comfort considering the ruin he’s left for this country.
She’s just filling the void left by DullSantis who is sinking faster than an imploded sub full of sightseeing billionaires.
Tim Scott’s newly discovered “girlfriend” doesn’t seem to be moving his needle at all…
Tim has a “girl” friend now? Do tell!
:-D
I didn’t learn about Scott’s gal-pal until this morning. Looks like Scott has made a big booboo. Oops.
As for Nikki Haley, IDK. I think she is angling for VEEP with The Donald.
I liked her until I didn’t. Thought she had so much potential. Lot of baggage here? If she’s the last one standing, I might be able to vote for her.
Her and her cronies like Greg Ryberg looted, pillaged, and burned the state retirement system. Then there was her never-ending stream of cronies she put into various state agencies as heads which kinda did the same thing to the agencies that were unfortunate enough to get them. Remember Leroy Smith and how he buggered morale at SCHP for years after she was gone from the Governor’s Mansion?
Then, when Trumpy put her in as UN Ambassador, the yapping b-tch did her best to always antagonize Russia while kissing Israel’s butt cause she new the joos would throw money at her.
No thanks.