Haley hits hurdles in challenge to Trump

Nikki Haley is running into hurdles as she attempts to take on former President Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The former U.N. ambassador scrambled this week to clarify comments he made on the campaign trail about the causes of the Civil War, but faced backlash after telling New Hampshire voters he would fix the results of the Iowa caucuses. .

Haley has seen good news in polls and fundraisers, but recent stumbles could hurt her chances of overtaking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Iowa, keep her in the race and move to New Hampshire. That would slow the momentum in the state.

“She's been operating basically unsupervised for the last three or four months,” said Republican strategist Ford O'Connell. “And what she's shown is that she's not ready to appear on prime time because if she were actually the Republican presidential nominee, Democrats would jump on both of these comments. is.”

President Biden's campaign was among the first to criticize Haley for not mentioning slavery in response to a December question about the causes of the Civil War, and posted a tweet on X (formerly known as Twitter). “It was about slavery,” he wrote in the post. ”

On the Republican side, DeSantis, who has staked his campaign on Iowa, was quick to pick up on Haley's comments this week that New Hampshire would modify the results in Iowa.

Florida Governor: “I think it's extremely disrespectful to Iowans to say that their vote needs to be quoted or modified in some way.'' He said this in an interview with KFAB. “I think she's trying to make excuses for her poor performance. You know, her allies and she spent a ton of money here.”

O'Connell said Haley's comments about Iowa could expose her to future attacks from Trump if he wins the Iowa caucuses.

“You can bet [Trump] is going to expand on that comment and say, 'Look, Nikki Haley doesn't like Iowa, and New Hampshire probably doesn't like you either,''' he said.

According to polling, Trump is the clear front-runner in Iowa, leading the pack with 51.6 percent support, according to an average of out-of-state polls from The Hill/Decision Desk Headquarters. DeSantis follows her in second place with 18%, followed closely by Haley with her 17.1%.

DeSantis also criticized Haley's comments last month about the causes of the Civil War, saying Haley “flinched” in the face of intense scrutiny and said acknowledging the role slavery played in the Civil War was “not difficult.” ” he said.

Trump's allies also launched attacks against Haley in response to her Civil War comments. Last month, the pro-Trump super PAC Mark America Great Again sent out an email declaring that “Haley is clearly not ready for prime time,” and this week his campaign announced It ran ads depicting Haley as vulnerable on the southern border. .

And the pro-Trump PAC condemned Haley in a statement Friday over recently unearthed comments she made in 2015 in which she said immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally should not be called criminals. did.

“Nikki Haley was disqualified from running for the Republican nomination last night. Ms. Haley believes President Trump may be a criminal, but he is not an illegal alien invading this country,” a PAC spokesperson said. Mann, Caroline Leavitt said Thursday during Haley's CNN town hall.

President Trump's move to attack Haley in New Hampshire comes as her campaign is making significant gains in the state's polls. An American Research Group poll released Thursday showed Haley's approval rating in the state was 33%, up 4 points from a December poll. According to the poll, Trump has an approval rating of 37% in the state, a 4-point increase. The average Hill/Decision Desk poll in New Hampshire shows Trump leading Haley by 11.9 percentage points.

“She kept climbing here in New Hampshire many times and then got the governor’s approval. [Chris] Sununu, and that gave her a huge boost here in the polls and in the public eye,” said Matthew Bartlett, a New Hampshire-based Republican strategist. “The higher you go, the more pressure you have and the more scrutiny you have.

“If you encounter a speed bump on the road, you may stub your toe,” he added.

Although there were some challenges for Haley during the campaign, there was also some good news along the way. On Wednesday, her campaign announced it had raised a whopping $24 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The latest fundraising amount is more than double her previous fundraising amount this cycle, bringing her total fundraising this cycle to $50 million.

Additionally, Haley continues to rise in national polls. The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average poll found Haley in second place nationally with 11.3% of support, followed by DeSantis with 11%. FiveThirtyEight's national polling average also has Haley in second place for the first time this season.

Haley's team argues that the increased attacks on Trump and DeSantis are evidence that they are nervous about Haley's rise.

“One of the reasons why everyone from Joe Biden to Donald Trump is attacking Nicki is that she is the only candidate with momentum. “It's clear this has become a two-person match between Nicki and Trump,” Haley's publicist Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement to The Hill. She said: “Voters have a clear choice: choose the drama and chaos of the past, or choose a new generation of conservative leadership.”

Regarding comments about the causes of the Civil War and New Hampshire correcting Iowa, Haley indicated she intended to move forward. When Haley was asked about the Civil War last month, she said she thought it was a “no surprise” that the Civil War was about slavery, but Sununu said there was a “mistake” in her answer and that she was “immediately It was resolved,” he said.

Asked about her comments at Thursday's CNN town hall, Haley cited her black friends. Haley's critics on the left and right were quick to highlight the remark, but strategists say the narrative surrounding it is less familiar to Republican primary voters.

“That was a mistake and the cleanup wasn't done properly,” said Republican strategist Doug Haley, noting the timing of Haley's original remarks between Christmas and New Year's. “Whether or not people get legitimately outraged on a TV network is another matter, but they're not Republican primary voters. So their reaction to that is different than what we hear in mainstream newsrooms.” It will become something.”

But when Haley was asked about her comment on CNN in Iowa about New Hampshire correcting Iowa, she was met with boos and laughter from the audience.

“Oh my god,” Haley replied lightheartedly, going on to point out that early contests had them “joking with each other about different things.”

“New Hampshire is making fun of Iowa. Iowa is making fun of South Carolina. That's what we do,” Haley said, adding that politics has become “too serious” and “too dramatic.” It became too much,” he said.

Bartlett cited Trump's 2015 comment that Iowa voters would be “stupid” if they believed the biography of then-Republican rival Ben Carson. At the time, Republican primary polls showed Mr. Trump and Mr. Carson tied.

“It started with the idea of ​​Iowa, and you're correcting it to be just a fact,” Bartlett said. “I think most people in Iowa understand that we don’t have a great track record of picking candidates.”