Can Nikki Haley Win, Or Is She Planning Something Else? – In a video by Fox News Digital, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley teases her 2024 White House bid.
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The launch of Haley’s campaign, rumored for years, is expected to occur some time next week.
In the video, Nikki Haley reportedly highlights her achievements in politics and asks views, “Where will you stand?”
The video also features the date 2/15/23, suggesting that the launch will take place next Wednesday.
Nikki Haley: Can She Win?
At present, the polls say Haley doesn’t have the support she needs to beat former President Donald Trump.
With the former president still the only Republican in the race, Haley would need more than 50% of the vote to win – but this fight is far from over and more candidates will soon follow in her footsteps.
A Morning Consult survey conducted between February 3-5 puts Haley fourth in the race, trailing behind former Vice President Mike Pence – who has yet to throw his hat in the ring. Former President Donald Trump has 49% support among Republicans, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has 31%.
It’s good news for Trump, and not great news for Haley – a candidate expected to announce in just a matter of days who is trailing behind two candidates who haven’t even confirmed their intention to run.
Haley’s support, in this poll, is barely more than former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who famously lost in a primary challenge to by pro-Trump Harriet Hageman.
Could Her Candidacy Help Trump?
Haley’s Candidacy could be seen as a betrayal of former President Trump, but there could be more to it.
Haley, formerly the U. S. ambassador to the United Nations under the Trump administration, may be able to leverage her support to become the former president’s running mate.
This week’s Yahoo News/YouGov poll released this week suggests that a Haley Candidacy could help Trump get over the line and defeat his biggest hypothetical challenger Ron DeSantis.
While the oil found that in a head-to-head challenge, Trump could lose to DeSantis 45% to 41%, Haley’s 11% support would eat more into DeSantis’s support than Trump’s.
The poll could even suggest that DeSantis has more support among moderate GOP primary voters as well as Trump-era populists.
With Haley expected to enter the race soon, however, DeSantis may have an uphill battle – and we may see a repeat of 2016 where a crowded field allowed Trump to win the nomination with a plurality, not a majority, of the party’s support.
Haley knows this, and she presumably knows that winning the nomination herself is a long shot at this point – so could she be looking to leverage her position to be a DeSantis or Trump VP pick?
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Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
