‘It would be nice if she could win, but I don’t think she’s going to,’ Curtis Lane, a right-leaning independent voter from Dover, told NR.
Exeter, N.H.—Fresh off the news that Florida governor Ron DeSantis had suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed former president Donald Trump, Nikki Haley delivered an optimistic speech to supporters, projecting confidence that she can pull off a miracle in the first-in-the-nation GOP primary state on Tuesday.
“Can you hear that sound? That’s the sound of a two-person race,” Haley told supporters at a high-school auditorium in Exeter.
But with two days to go until voters head to the polls, her own Granite State supporters — many of them self-described independents — are doubtful she can pull off a surprise win here against her former boss, let alone secure the GOP nomination. Trump still leads her here by double digits in FiveThirtyEight’s GOP primary polling average, meaning she will likely rely on independent and Democratic voters if she wants to pull off an upset on Tuesday.
“It would be nice if she could win, but I don’t think she’s going to,” said Curtis Lane, a right-leaning independent voter from Dover who is dreading another match-up between Trump and President Joe Biden.
“It doesn’t look good for Nikki at all,” Haley volunteer Mark Croteau of Groton, Massachusetts, a left-leaning independent who is “strongly pro-life.”
Earlier Sunday, DeSantis followed in the footsteps of several other ex-presidential candidates — including South Carolina senator Tim Scott and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum — in throwing his support behind the former president’s 2024 bid, announcing his decision in a video posted to social media.
The Florida governor narrowly beat Haley for a distant second-place finish in Iowa last weeks, coming in thirty points behind Trump. DeSantis had been polling in the single digits in New Hampshire in the months leading up to Sunday’s announcement. Recent polls suggest most of DeSantis’ former supporters here prefer Trump to Haley.
Haley is now the last high-profile Republican standing against Trump, and is hoping she can ride the momentum of a surprise victory in moderate-friendly New Hampshire to a strong performance in her home state of South Carolina, even as she continues to trail Trump in both states. She urged supporters Sunday evening to take a chance on her, vowing to eliminate the federal gas and diesel tax, cut spending, and invest in the U.S. military should she win the nomination.
The former U.N. ambassador ramped up her attacks on Trump on the campaign stump in recent days, urging Granite State voters to pass the torch to a younger, fresher face and calling the former president unfit for office. “Seventy percent of Americans have said they don’t want to see a Donald Trump, Joe Biden rematch,” she told a crowd in Derry, New Hampshire Sunday morning, adding that neither candidate has offered “one ounce of vision for the future.”
“Electability isn’t just who wins the White House,” Haley endorsee and New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu told supporters Sunday evening, adding that putting Haley on the top of the GOP ticket this cycle will help the party win competitive races up and down the ballot in 2024. “I am tired of losing, I am tired of losers, and I am sure as hell tired of Donald Trump!”
Republican voter Donald Berube of Nashua, New Hampshire, told NR Sunday morning he is deciding between Trump and Haley, and is on the fence about supporting the former South Carolina governor because he’s unsure about her border policy. He will vote for the eventual GOP nominee, he said, adding that Haley’s odds of pulling off a victory Tuesday remain long.
“It’s tough. Trump has a very big base here,” said Berube, who has now seen Haley on the stump three times this cycle. “Coming in a close second would be huge for her.”
Some political tourists on the ground this week say voter attendance at Haley’s events offer early clues about Tuesday’s election results. One Massachusetts resident named Rick, who declined to tell NR his last name, observed ahead of Haley’s Sunday morning event at a middle school in Derry, New Hampshire, that there seemed to be just as many reporters waiting to get inside the venue as there were actual Haley supporters. He added that the GOP primary this cycle seems far more “muted” than usual because for many voters, Trump’s victory seems to be a “foregone conclusion” at this point.
But as Trump continues to battle four criminal indictments, among other legal troubles, some of Haley’s supporters are still holding out hope that New Hampshire will shock the country.
“I think she can win New Hampshire. I think that she’s got a possibility,” Republican voter Noel Paschke of Londonderry, Hampshire told NR Sunday morning, adding that it’s wise for Republicans to have an alternative candidate-in-waiting should Trump’s legal troubles somehow complicate his path to the nomination or general election. “The Republican Party better get its act together and have a plan A, B, and C.”