A super PAC supporting former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley for president in 2024 slammed the media, accusing news outlets of coronating former President Donald Trump when only Iowa has cast ballots.
“Members of the media are tripping over themselves to say this race is over when only one state has voted and 50 percent of the party voted for Donald Trump, an incumbent president,” Stand for America Fund Inc. spokeswoman Brittany Yanick said in a statement.
With most other competitors out of the race, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Haley is set to face Trump in essentially a one-on-one matchup in New Hampshire on Tuesday. However, she still trails the former president by 19 points, 38% to his 57%.
According to Suffolk University Political Research Center Director David Paleologos, “it’s highly improbable” for Haley to make up that large of a disparity in the one day she has.
“This isn’t a typical persuasion campaign because there’s virtually no one left to persuade,” he said. “The undecided number is 2%.”
The ideal scenario for Haley would be inspiring a massive turnout of independent voters, particularly women, he explained. “It’s a long shot,” Paleologos said, “but if tomorrow’s Republican primary is made up of 70% independents and 30% registered Republicans, she has a shot.”
However, among a “typically balanced” electorate, “she will lose by a wide margin.”
As media continue to chronicle Trump’s dominance over the party’s electorate, SFA Fund and Haley are pushing back. “We’ve only had one state vote so far, and I think if you look, there were, you know, 56,000 people in a state of 3 million [who] voted for Donald Trump,” she told radio host Hugh Hewitt Monday. “That’s by no means a coronation.”
New Hampshire proved to be Haley’s strongest state in the run-up to the primary races, leading to her surge in national measures. But despite Granite State voters’ apparent welcome of Haley’s message, she hasn’t been able to stamp out the ex-president’s lead.
After New Hampshire, the pathway for Haley is rocky as her time and money have been spent primarily in just three states and she is not in the running for any delegates in Nevada, putting her already at a disadvantage.
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Nevada’s caucuses on Feb. 8 will feature just Trump and Ryan Binkley on its slate of candidates and Trump is expected to be awarded all of them. Haley’s campaign decided to file for the state’s government-run primary, which will not determine delegates.
After that, Haley faces an uphill battle in her home state of South Carolina where Trump has locked up a large amount of endorsements from prominent leaders, including some that Haley once supported.