Nikki Haley rockets to second place in New Hampshire GOP primary poll

 September 28, 2023

Former President Donald Trump continues to dominate both state and national polling for the Republican nomination next year, but some of his competitors are making gains.

According to Breitbart, one of those is Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who recently rocketed to second place in the early primary voting state of New Hampshire.

Haley performed well at the first GOP primary debate, though her second debate appearance, which happened this week, according to many, wasn't nearly as strong.

Regardless, she now holds a second-place position in a crucial voting state, leaving the previous second-place holder, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in her political dust as he continues to fall nationwide.

A recent Saint Anselm College Survey Center (SACSC)/New Hampshire Institute of Politics (NHIOP) survey showed that likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters gave Trump 45% support, making him the clear leader of the pack, as he is everywhere else.

Haley shot up to 15% support, garnering her silver medal position, but remaining 30% behind the party's frontrunner.

The remaining Republican candidates have struggled, to be kind, to gain traction. And many, like DeSantis, who was once thought to be Trump's most formidable opponent, has taken an absolute nosedive.

The survey said of DeSantis, "Just 11% of respondents with a favorable opinion of Trump select DeSantis on the ballot test, along with 12% that have an unfavorable opinion of Trump, suggesting that he doesn’t appeal to either group strongly enough to have maintained his early status as Trump’s strongest challenger."

Breitbart noted:

DeSantis has fallen 18 points since March and now sits in third place with 11 percent support— seven points behind Haley. However, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is just a single point behind DeSantis with ten percent support.

In many online polls and opinions of political experts, Trump, even though he wasn't present for the first or second GOP primary debate, "won" anyway. His poll numbers continue to climb, and by not appearing at the debate, ratings have remained disastrously low, suffocating his opponents' attempts to gain national traction.

For his part, Trump has said on several occasions that he believes, given his commanding lead, the Republican National Committee should quit wasting time and resources on debates, and begin focusing on beating President Joe Biden in the general election.

On that front, Trump made shockwaves earlier in the week when an ABC News/Washington Post poll showed Trump beating Biden by 10 points in a hypothetical 2024 matchup.

While Haley's team will certainly take the positive New Hampshire news and run with it, she's still a very long way from competing with Trump.

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