- The Indian American is gradually rising in both national and state-side polls, according to The Hill.
Nikki Haley’s rising popularity in the last two performances has placed her “as the most viable alternative” to former President Trump, The Hill has reported. The former United Nations ambassador and former South Carolina governor has “bumped up in primary polling,” since her performances in the GOP primary debates have been receiving “widespread praise,” the publication said about the Indian American presidential candidate. She also has the support of GOP presidential candidate Will Hurd, who threw his support behind her after he pulled out of the race.
Republican strategist Ford O’Connell told the Hill that “Haley’s rise or piqued interest, among particularly donors and Trump critics is due more to Ron DeSantis’s falling in the polls than anything else.”
Last week, in a column for the Washington Post, conservative commentator George Will called on Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to drop out of the race and get behind Haley. “This is the South Carolina senator’s choice: He can acknowledge that his energetic campaigning has failed to enkindle sufficient enthusiasm and depart as he campaigned, cheerfully,” Will wrote. “Or he can try to become someone whom, to his credit, he has no aptitude for being — another peddler of synthetic anger, stoking today’s rage culture.”
Former President Trump, despite being far ahead of his rivals in national polls, seems to be threatened by Haley’s rise. Two days after the Sept. 27 debate he attacked her as “birdbrain” on his social media site Truth Social. To prove that point, over the weekend, his campaign sent a birdcage and seed to her hotel. Speaking to Axios, Haley’s campaign manager Betsy Ankney called the behavior “weird, creepy and desperate,” and said it is “more proof that it’s time to leave the drama behind.”
Nationally, Haley has moved into third place, closely behind DeSantis. In a Fox News poll released last week, Haley registered “her best showing yet with 10 percent support (+5 points), while Vivek Ramaswamy falls back into single digits with 7% (-4 points). Citing a Real Clear Politics polling average, The Hill noted that “Haley comes in third with 7.6 percent support.” Trump leads the field with 58.3 percent support, DeSantis trails at 12.9 percent support.
She has seen a rise in state-level polling, particularly in New Hampshire. Polling from Suffolk University, The Boston Globe, and USA Today released earlier this month found Haley in second place behind Trump, who led her 49 percent to 19 percent. However, in her home state of South Carolina, the Indian American trails Trump with 17 percent of Republicans saying they support her nomination, according to the latest Winthrop poll.
(Top photo, courtesy @NikkiHaley on X)