(Laconia) With less than a year to go before the November 2024 presidential primaries, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is trying to eat into Donald Trump’s favor like other Republican candidates. Huge lead in polls.
The recent impeachment of a former US president — beset by court cases — is historic, opening the door to candidates who have never failed to present themselves as more moderate and unpredictable than 76-year-old Donald Trump.
Nikki Haley, 51, daughter of Indian immigrants and former South Carolina governor, on Friday chained her third public meeting in three days at a modest town hall in Laconia, a small town of about 16,000 people in northeastern New Hampshire.
“I’ve always been underrated in everything I’ve been through. And it’s a blessing because it makes me competitive and it makes me a hard worker,” said Haley, sporting a “Dare to Win” jersey in front of 150 people.
However, like most of the announced Republican candidates (Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramasamy, Perry Johnson), Haley is not credited with polling between 1% and 5%.
Sandra LaRose, an office worker interviewed by AFP at a cafeteria in Manchester (New Hampshire), was not surprised.
Supporters of Haley and other Republican candidates are “seeing things through rose-colored glasses,” said the 58-year-old Trump voter. “But if you take off those glasses, does she have what it takes to lead the country?”
44-year-old Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis looks primed to challenge Donald Trump in the Grand Old Party nomination.
Although he is not officially a candidate for the White House, this figure of the hard right is in the public debate, thanks to his declared fight against “right-wing thinking” – or “wokism” as he calls it – hated by conservatives. with entertainment giant Disney.
The reality is that Trump is ahead of his Republican rivals (by 20 to 46 percentage points, according to polls).
“Why do we have to do that?” “, he enthused.
“Not hard enough”?
While all Republican candidates say they’re running all the way, some voters, like 75-year-old Sarah Mack, think they’re primarily candidates for vice president.
Their only advantage is being a little more confused than Trump, explains Sarah Mack, who was interviewed by AFP during Trump’s public meeting.
While giving Nikki Haley skills in international relations, the septuagenarian believes she is “not tough enough to go to Iran, North Korea, China and meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.” “It’s Trump.”
Haley, whom he calls a “new generation of leaders,” assures Laconia residents that the United States is “respected” when he represents the United States at the UN.
Erica, a 27-year-old military veteran, wears a Nikki Haley campaign T-shirt and wants to believe that “there are better alternatives” to Trump and that “I don’t think it’s impossible” to defeat him.
But for Laconia-based car salesman Brendan Florio, referring to Trump, “it’s going to be tough on whoever gets in his way.”
“Also, he continues, this may be one of the reasons why DeSantis has backed away from entering the campaign. Why would he want to get involved if he has no chance? »
