Haley garners momentum amidst Trump's escalating criticism
Former President Trump targets GOP presidential rival Nikki Haley as she gains momentum ahead of Iowa caucuses, aiming to halt her surge before the primary season kicks off
With the Iowa caucuses just days away, former President Donald Trump and his team have now shifted their focus to GOP presidential rival Nikki Haley in an effort to slow down her recent momentum before the first votes are cast this primary season.
This change in strategy signifies a major shift for Trump and his campaign. Instead of solely targeting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had been seen as his top GOP challenger, the attention has now turned to Trump's former ambassador to the United Nations. Recent polls have indicated a significant surge for the former South Carolina governor, particularly in New Hampshire, where a new CNN survey revealed Trump's lead has decreased to single digits.
WATERLOO, IOWA - December 19: Former U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, makes a gesture as he concludes a campaign event on December 19, 2023 in Waterloo, Iowa. Iowa Republicans will be the first to choose their party's nominee for the 2024 presidential race when they caucus on January 15, 2024. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
US Republican presidential candidate and former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley addresses a town hall event hosted by Fox News in Des Moines, Iowa, on January 8, 2024.(Photo by Christian MONTERROSA / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP via Getty Images)
CNN Poll: Haley narrows Trump's lead to single digits in New Hampshire. Despite Trump publicly downplaying recent polls and maintaining a strong lead in the GOP field elsewhere, his team is taking Haley's rise seriously. The former president is focusing on her immigration stances as he emphasizes his own hardline proposals.
Trump ramped up attacks on Haley during campaign events in Iowa last weekend, launching the first television ad directly critiquing her on immigration in New Hampshire. The leading super PAC supporting Trump also released an ad on the same topic. Together, they are spending $4.5 million on ads tying Haley to President Joe Biden's policies and criticizing her immigration rhetoric. A Trump adviser indicated that immigration will remain a key focus, as they consider it a top issue for voters in the state. Trump has made border security and curbing illegal immigration a central theme of his White House bid, increasingly using anti-immigrant rhetoric in his recent campaign speeches and social media posts.
The Trump campaign sent out an email on Monday that criticized Haley's stance against the travel ban imposed by Trump during his presidency, stating that he plans to reinstate it if elected in 2024. They also referenced Haley's remarks from 2015 about referring to illegal immigrants as criminals and falsely stated that she opposed the construction of a border wall.
In response, Haley defended herself during a Fox town hall this week by stating, "Just because President Trump says something doesn't make it true. He's taking snippets of things I said. I said, 'You shouldn't just do the border wall. You have to do more than that.' That's what I said."
Trump's advisers, interviewed by CNN, refute the idea that there has been a shift in strategy.
"President Trump has consistently stated that he will focus on whoever is in second place," stated Trump senior adviser Jason Miller to CNN. "Now that [DeSantis] is dropping to single digits... Nikki Haley happens to be in second place."
Trump's recent statements indicate his focus on attacking Nikki Haley, accusing her of being influenced by open border establishment donors and labeling her as a globalist. In a speech in Sioux Center, he stated, "Nikki Haley has been in the pocket of the open border establishment donors her entire career. She is a globalist. She likes the globe. I like America first."
Trump went so far as to amplify a post from a far-right outlet falsely claiming that Haley was not eligible to run for president and that her parents were not US citizens at the time of her birth. Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was born in South Carolina. If successful in the primary, she would be the first Asian American and the first woman nominated by the GOP for president. These attacks are reminiscent of Trump's racist lie that former President Barack Obama was not born in the US and was therefore ineligible to be president.
With a shrinking lead in New Hampshire, Trump's team hopes a definitive win in Iowa will diminish any momentum that Haley has heading into the following contest, New Hampshire.
"After Iowa, everything is going to change. If he handles this well, it will sway a lot of undecided voters in New Hampshire," a source close to the campaign told CNN. Trump's team has been carefully studying internal poll numbers in Iowa, which showed Haley gaining ground there."
The team remains confident that he will ultimately win the New Hampshire primary later this month, despite arguments that independents have less influence on the GOP primary process overall. It is worth noting, however, that in New Hampshire, independents historically play a larger role in the electorate compared to other states. Nonetheless, some of his advisers have consistently warned about the unpredictable nature of independent voters in the state.
At a campaign event in Iowa in September, a senior adviser expressed joy upon receiving a New Hampshire poll showing Trump leading the race. "And that's the state where we're not performing well!"
CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to clarify details about the share of independents in New Hampshires electorate.Â
