Columbia, South Carolina – Nikki Haley has been making the same argument for months: She would be a stronger standard-bearer for the Republican Party than former President Trump was if she ran against President Biden in the November general election.
“Look at the polls in the general election, some of which came out yesterday, with Donald Trump trailing Biden by 7 points,” Haley said Thursday at a campaign event in Hilton Head, South Carolina. “We lost,” he told the audience. “I will beat Biden by up to 17 points.”
The former South Carolina governor who served as U.N. ambassador during the Trump administration is now facing even more scrutiny of his former boss.
Haley used X to attack Trump. She posted a photo of the former president in a Halloween costume under the title “Weakest General Election Candidate in History.”
What Nikki Haley told FOX Digital about what she needs to do to keep running
“Democrats are excited about the prospect of running against Donald Trump,” Haley claimed. “They couldn’t come up with a worse general election candidate if they tried. Between the legal battles, terrible poll numbers, and chaos, Trump will hand the Democrats a landslide victory.”
Where do Trump and Haley stand in the latest polls in key Republican states?
Hours later, Trump took to his Truth Social platform and posted: Make the opposite case, We focused on polls showing that she will have a stronger fight against President Biden than Haley in the general election.
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chan dismissed the attack, saying, “Nikki Haley is a complete snubbed loser who is becoming more and more irrelevant by the day.”
Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump makes a motion before speaking at a campaign event in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/John Roche)
Haley faces a steep uphill climb in the race for the Republican nomination against Trump. Trump is running for the White House for the third consecutive year and remains the strongest candidate in the Republican race.
Trump won last month’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, the first two races on the Republican presidential nomination calendar, by double-digit margins.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign two days before the New Hampshire primary, leaving Trump and Haley as the final two major candidates in a race that had nearly 15 candidates last August. He became Mr.
2024 showdown: Haley targets Biden and Trump as ‘grumpy old men’
The next major issue for the Republican Party is Haley’s home state, where the Republican primary will be held on February 24th. The latest South Carolina poll from Monmouth University and the Washington Post shows the former president with a whopping 26 points. Lead Haley.
But Haley reasserted her goalposts Thursday in an interview with Fox News Digital after a campaign event at a popular eatery in the Palmetto state capital.
“It’s important to keep this momentum going. We got 20% in Iowa. We got 43% in New Hampshire. Let’s get a little closer so we can get closer to him.” [Trump] “I want to be more competitive heading into Super Tuesday,” she said.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and future United Nations ambassador, speaks with voters after a campaign event in Columbia, South Carolina, on February 1, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
15 states hold contests for the Republican presidential nomination on Super Tuesday, which this year will be held on March 5th. Thirty-six percent of all Republican presidential delegates will be contested in primaries and caucuses.
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South Carolina voters surveyed in a Monmouth/Washington Post poll said they believed Trump had a better chance of defeating President Biden in November than Haley. 42% said they believe Trump will definitely beat Biden in the general election. Only 21% of South Carolina Republicans said Haley was certain to beat Biden.
“Trump’s chances of winning are a concern for some primary voters, but this group moves Haley closer to the frontrunner,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement. It just hasn’t reached the scale it should.” .
Neil Newhouse, a longtime Republican pollster, told Fox News that “Republican primary voters don’t vote on who they think has the best chance of beating Biden… “Voters vote on policy and character, not on chance of winning.”
Newhouse, a veteran of multiple Republican presidential campaigns, argued that spotlighting the election is “generally the last death cry of moderate Republicans who are bracing for defeat.” .
FOX News’ James Levinson contributed to this report.
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
