Former President Trump has a choice to make after Nikki Haley withdrew from the primary race. Will he try to win over the former South Carolina governor’s supporters or just ignore them?
Trump won all but two primaries before Haley dropped out, a sign of Trump’s dominance within the party.
But exit polls showed that a significant portion of Haley’s supporters in states such as New Hampshire, Virginia and North Carolina were cool with the idea of supporting Trump in November.
This gave some hope to the Democratic Party, which is concerned about President Biden’s weaknesses. They believe Mr. Trump will struggle to unite the Republican Party and garner the support needed to defeat Mr. Biden in the Electoral College.
Haley suspended her campaign on Wednesday and did not endorse Trump, but said the former president needed to “earn the votes” of people who did not support him.
There has been no direct olive branch from Trump or his team, with the former president urging Haley’s supporters to back his bid for the White House, with Haley’s support largely driven by Democrats. he vehemently criticized.
Mr. Trump’s allies have downplayed the need for direct outreach to Haley voters, but the former president has rallied some moderate Republicans at a time when both sides agree the general election is close. I can’t let you go away.
Doug Hay, a former Republican National Committee spokesman, said, “The primaries show that both Biden and Trump have serious vulnerabilities within their respective parties that could weaken their party in November.” I found out it was going to be.”
“Mr. Trump has told many Republicans to pound the sand, and many Republicans may do so, so Mr. Trump may be on a steeper slope,” he added.
Haley has not seriously threatened Trump’s path to the nomination, even though she has maintained that she is more certain to defeat President Biden in November. Some of her best performances have been in states like New Hampshire and Vermont, where independents have made it easier to vote in Republican primaries.
still, exit polling There have been several warning signs for Trump since the primaries began, and Super Tuesday was no exception. According to NBC News, 31% of primary voters in Virginia and 34% in North Carolina said they would not vote for any Republican candidate.
Haley also won majorities among voters who identified as moderate or liberal in North Carolina and Virginia. Trump won a majority of women voters in both states, but by a smaller margin than men.
A majority of Haley voters consistently say in primary exit polls that Trump is unfit to serve as president if convicted. He faces 91 felonies in four separate cases, and his trial over the hush money allegations is scheduled to begin later this month in New York City.
“It’s up to Donald Trump to capture the votes of those who didn’t support Trump, both inside and outside his party, and I hope he does,” Haley said Wednesday. . “The best thing about politics is bringing people to your cause, not pushing them away. And our conservative cause needs more people. Now he It’s time to choose.”
Trump lost the 2020 election and will need to expand his coalition beyond his fervent base to flip at least a few states in November.
However, President Trump largely denied supporting Haley after she withdrew from the race.
“For reasons unknown, Nikki Haley was busted last night in record-breaking fashion, even though Democrats are allowed to vote in Vermont and other Republican primaries,” Trump said.・Written on social media. “Much of her funding comes from radical left-wing Democrats, as do many of her voters (nearly 50%), according to polls.”
Vermont’s primary elections are open to the public, meaning every registered voter in the state can choose which party to vote for.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, called any outreach from Haley to Trump “pointless,” instead pointing to several other 2024 candidates who dropped out and supported the former president. Ta.
In an interview on Fox News, Miller also rejected suggestions from Haley’s campaign that Trump needs to appeal to Republican primary voters who have expressed concerns about his candidacy, saying it was “absolutely not.” It’s a mistake,” he said.
According to an average of national opinion polls by Decision Desk Headquarters, Mr. Trump leads Mr. Biden by about 2 points at the national level. Average polls also show Trump leading Biden in key battleground states such as Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released last weekend found that 97% of voters said they supported Trump in 2020, compared to 97% who said they supported him in 2020. Biden won 83% of those voters.
Although Trump lost the 2020 election, he would only need to flip a few states to win the 270 electoral votes needed to win in 2024.
“Given the Electoral College, the states at stake, and the issues that are currently driving the electors, we’re more likely to see Donald Trump’s hand than Joe Biden’s right now,” Republican strategist Ford Orr said. is good,” he said. Connell. “Because of the Electoral College cycle, this is always going to be a close race regardless of who the candidate is.”
The Biden campaign argued in a memo Wednesday that Trump is a vulnerable candidate in the general election, as preliminary results show.
Biden campaign officials said in a memo that Trump has “significantly underperformed with the voters who will decide the November election” and that the former president is leading rural counties in Michigan, Virginia and North Carolina. They pointed out that while they underperformed in the polls, they only won about a quarter of moderate voters. Voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
Biden campaign officials have no intention of making persuading Republican voters a central part of their strategy with eight months until Election Day, but the president himself on Wednesday held up moderates disillusioned with President Trump with open arms. He declared that he would welcome it.
“Donald Trump has made it clear that he does not want Nikki Haley supporters. Let me be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign,” Biden said in a statement.
“I know there are many things we cannot agree on,” he added. “But on fundamental issues like preserving American democracy, upholding the rule of law, treating each other with civility, dignity and respect, maintaining NATO and confronting America’s adversaries. I hope and believe that we can find common ground.”
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