Nikki Haley’s upcoming presidential bid will likely split the non-Donald Trump Republican vote and hand the former president a primary victory, a new poll found. The former South Carolina Governor is set to launch a bid later this month.
An additional candidate besides his thought-to-be most likely challenger Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would tip the favour towards Trump, according to a recent survey.
The Yahoo News/YouGov poll gave DeSantis a 45 percent to 41 percent lead over Donald Trump – similar polling has driven attacks by the former president against his would be challenger who has responded with deflections.
However, when another candidate was added to the equation, the DeSantis vote was split and Trump won out.
“In a hypothetical three-way match-up, Haley effectively plays the spoiler, attracting 11 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaners while DeSantis’s support falls by roughly the same amount (to 35 percent), leaving Trump with more votes than either of them at 38 percent,” Yahoo News reported.
When Trump first ran for president in 2016, he won a Republican Primary with 17 candidates, without a majority of the vote.
Nikki Haley is a long-time Trump ally who previously served as South Carolina Governor and Ambassador to the UN under Trump.
She previously said she would never run against the former president but has since changed her tune, claiming that American politics needed a new generation of leaders.
Somewhat uncharacteristically for Donald Trump, he appeared to give Haley the nod to campaign when he told reporters he had spoken to her about it and told her to run.
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She is set to announce her candidacy on February 15 in Charleston, South Carolina – her home state – before heading to New Hampshire, which is another early primary state.
According to the YouGov poll, Haley has garnered more support than other potential candidates including former vice president Mike Pence, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Larry Hogan, a former governor of Maryland. The Yahoo News/YouGov poll surveyed 1,585 US adults from February 2 to 6.
Still, polls have show that Ron DeSantis is, by far, the most likely to pose a serious challenge to Donald Trump’s candidacy, something which has been apparent from his recent attacks on the Governor.
His most recent dig came on Tuesday when Trump wrote five consecutive posted about DeSantis on his social media site Truth Social.
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Trump referenced a story published by the right-wing site Hillreporter.com which claimed that DeSantis had been photographed “partying with underaged students” as a teacher in the early 2000s.
However, DeSantis seemed to stand by his longstanding policy of deflecting attacks from the former president.
On Wednesday, DeSantis told reporters: “I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”
For now, Trump is the only candidate who has declared for 2024. DeSantis is thought to be waiting to announce a run until after Florida’s legislative session ends in May.
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