MANCHESTER, New Hampshire – Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley makes her closing argument in New Hampshire on Jan 21 even as the latest polling shows former President Donald Trump widening his lead in the state ahead of Jan 23’s Republican presidential primary.
Trump is the first choice for 50 per cent of likely Republican primary voters, widening his lead over Ms Haley, who has 39 per cent support, according to the final CNN/University of New Hampshire poll released on Jan 21. The poll, conducted Jan 16 through Jan 19, had a 2 percentage point margin of error.
The poll showed Trump gained supporters since early January, when 39 per cent of those surveyed said they would vote for him. Ms Haley’s support level also rose – from 32 per cent in the earlier poll – as other Republicans have exited the race.
Time is running short for Ms Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, to topple the Republican presidential frontrunner.
Trump’s Iowa caucus victory last week underscored his dominance among the party’s voters despite facing four criminal cases and growing concerns about his authoritarian language.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and says the cases are politically motivated.
If she cannot score an upset win in New Hampshire, Ms Haley’s already-narrow path to the nomination could close altogether.
“She needs to shock everybody on Tuesday,” Dante Scala, political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, told Reuters. “She needs to reset expectations.”
Ms Haley has stepped up her attacks on Trump in recent days with a last-minute move to draw contrasts with a businessman and politician whose four years in the White House were characterised by chaos and who faces 91 criminal indictments, including for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election that he lost to now President Joe Biden.
“Chaos follows him,” Ms Haley said, in an interview on CBS News on Jan 21. “He’s just not at the same level he was in 2016.”
‘Warning signs’
Ms Haley again knocked Trump, 77, for his age after he seemingly confused her with former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi at his Jan 20 night rally in Manchester, telling CBS: “I don’t know if he was confused, I don’t know what happened. But it should be enough to send us warning signs.”
Ms Haley, who turned 52 over the weekend, has long cast herself as a fresher alternative to Trump or Mr Biden, 81, in November’s general election.
Trump, who often attacks Mr Biden for his age, brushes off criticisms about his own.
“I feel better now, and I think cognitively I’m better than I was 20 years ago. I don’t know why,” he said at a Jan 17 campaign appearance, according to multiple US media accounts.
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