The tens of thousands of primary votes cast in favor of Nikki Haley over the past few months underscore the apparent dissatisfaction among many Republicans with former President Trump as the likely candidate. The move has raised alarm over his campaign and fueled questions about whether he needs to take further action. To unify different factions within the party.
Haley recently won significant votes in Republican primaries in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia, where Republican voters are not allowed to participate, unlike in some past primaries where Democrats and This means that independents were not able to participate.
It’s the latest sign that a sizable swath of the party intends to vote for Haley, even though she hasn’t been a candidate since March, with many Republicans saying Haley They are thinking about how to use their influence and what President Trump will do. Anything to appeal to voters.
“She sees a consistent message coming out of the primary results,” said Dave Wilson, a South Carolina-based Republican strategist. She said, “A significant number of Republican primary voters say they don’t want Donald Trump.”
Mr. Trump and his allies argue that Ms. Haley has received a relatively large number of votes in the open primary, where Democrats and independents can vote in the Republican primary. But other Republicans say a vote for her remains a red flag.
And in the case of Tuesday’s results, all of Haley’s votes in the three states came from registered Republicans.
“Many people believe these votes are anti-Trump votes, but there are also many people who align with her policies and style as a politician,” said Ashley Davis, a Republican strategist. “These are solid conservative Republicans who are going to have to break with Mr. Trump’s approach.”
“We have to remember that in a general election, it doesn’t matter whether you are registered to vote or not.” [Republican], [Democrat]or [independent]” she continued. “They can vote for anyone. And, as we know, there are a lot of voters who aren’t excited about any candidate.”
It is not unheard of for candidates who have withdrawn from presidential elections to receive support. In the 2012 Republican primary, former candidates such as Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich won the majority of votes, even after Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) secured the nomination that year. At times, he achieved double digits.
And Sen. Bernie Sanders (Iconic, I-Vt.) still performed reasonably well throughout the 2020 primary season, even after President Biden mathematically secured the nomination.
But Ms. Haley is approaching or even exceeding 20% of the vote in some states, an astonishingly high number. And the fact that Ms. Haley has not endorsed Mr. Trump for president, at least not yet, seems to further compound the Republican Party’s unpreparedness to support a presumptive nominee.
She had her highest vote share ever on Tuesday, with 20% in Maryland and 18% in Nebraska as of the latest vote count. This came a week after she reached nearly 22 percent in Indiana.
And Haley won more than 100,000 votes in each of two key battleground states: Arizona in March and Pennsylvania in April.
Trump dismissed the idea that he was at risk of losing Haley voters, saying in an interview with Scripps News on Thursday that “her voters are relatively very small.”
“And all of those voters are coming to me. And they have a very unwieldy little system, so there may be a lot of Democrats in there,” Trump said. Ta. “But those voters are coming to me.”
President Trump’s press secretary, Caroline Levitt, told The Hill that Trump is “building a historic, unified political movement” and enjoys more than 90% support among Republicans. He spoke at She also pointed to polls showing Trump gaining gains among traditional Democratic constituencies such as blacks and Hispanic Americans.
“Anyone who believes in securing our borders, rebuilding our economy, restoring America’s energy dominance and ending the wars Joe Biden has started around the world will join President Trump’s team,” Levitt said. We welcome that.”
But other Republicans say it’s not necessarily certain that all of Haley’s supporters will back Trump in November.
“Everything we’re seeing in this race is based on one of the candidate’s weaknesses. This is a big thing for Trump,” Republican strategist Doug Hay said. “Even if a majority of Haley voters spontaneously converted to Trump — and they would — what would happen to the rest? Support for Haley voters who happily wore ‘permanently banned’ T-shirts” It’s not clear if there’s a way to get it. It could be important in nearby states. ”
Republican strategist Lina Scher said Haley’s vote was a “statement” that many voters still viewed her favorably and were waiting to decide what to do.
“They understand that here is someone who probably behaved as perfectly as possible after withdrawing from the presidential race,” she said, referring to Haley. “She doesn’t feel the need to go out of her way to support Trump just because he has an ‘R’ next to his name.”
Shah added that the vote for Haley was a combination of “wishful thinking” and a statement that Trump and Biden are not the country’s options in the general election. She said that while Ms. Haley was running for president, she was also able to garner some attention from the center-left.
“At the end of the day, it’s people who feel like this Republican Party could have done better,” she said.
Biden has not contacted Haley or her constituents directly, but his campaign is leaving the door open. In March, the president’s re-election campaign ran an ad aimed at Haley’s supporters titled “Get Involved.” The 30-second spot featured Trump insulting Haley and his supporters.
Some polls suggest that there may be more votes for Biden among Haley’s supporters. An Emerson College poll released in March after Ms. Haley suspended her campaign found that 63% of Ms. Haley’s supporters said they supported Mr. Biden, while 27% said they supported Mr. Trump.
But other Republicans are skeptical given Biden’s positions on key issues.
“I think a lot of her voters are still solid Republicans, and they’re concerned about the economy, the border, and crime,” Davis said. “Even if they didn’t initially vote for President Trump in the primary, they know he’s better than President Biden on these issues.”
Shah said these voters won’t necessarily vote for Biden, but they will likely take a long time to decide who to support.
“The big picture is that we cannot presume that the Biden vote is certain,” she said. “We don’t know enough about this group.”
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