Haley’s missed opportunity: Iowa slows her roll into New Hampshire
Haley's disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses showed that for all the hype, her momentum ultimately stalled in the face of a Republican electorate still in the thrall of the former president
Published: 02:01 PM,Jan 17,2024 | EDITED : 06:01 PM,Jan 17,2024
Republican presidential candidate and former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley holds a rally at the Omni Mt Washington Hotel & Resort in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. — Reuters
Nikki Haley had hoped to vault into New Hampshire before next Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation primary with a head of steam from a second-place finish in Iowa and a powerful case to make that the 2024 nomination fight was a two-candidate race between her and Donald Trump.
Instead, as Haley hobbles into New Hampshire, the pressure is on to show she can compete with Trump.
Her disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses on Monday showed that for all the hype, her momentum ultimately stalled in the face of a Republican electorate still in the thrall of the former president. That included not only Trump’s working-class base but also the bastions of college-educated Republicans in and around Des Moines that she was supposed to dominate.
In her speech after the caucuses, Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, sharpened her attack on Trump, questioning his age and his ability to unite a fractured country. She lumped Trump with President Joe Biden as backward-looking barriers to an American revival.
“The question before Americans is now very clear: Do you want more of the same or do you want a new generation of conservative leadership?” she asked, drawing loud applause and chants of “Nikki, Nikki.”
“Our campaign is the last best hope of stopping the Trump-Biden nightmare.”
Still, Haley’s final tally in Iowa most likely breathed some new life into the campaign of her rival, Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida, and indicated that, for all the excitement around her campaign in the closing weeks, her pitch may have limited appeal with Republicans.
With more than 95 per cent of precincts reporting late on Monday, Haley had 19 per cent of the vote, Trump 51 per cent and DeSantis 21 per cent. Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur and political newcomer who has relentlessly travelled the state on a largely self-funded bid, came in fourth, with 7.7 per cent, then dropped out and endorsed Trump.
Haley’s allies on Monday projected confidence that she was headed into more favourable territory in New Hampshire, where she hopes to turn the race into a head-to-head against Trump. The state’s Republicans are more moderate and less religious, and independents can vote in the primary, all factors that may work to Haley’s advantage.
“New Hampshire and Iowa are two very different states,” said Kimberly Rice, her campaign’s co-chair in New Hampshire.
“It is a 2-point difference,” said Rep Ralph Norman, R-SC, referring to the gap separating Haley and DeSantis. And he argued it was DeSantis “who put his eggs in only one basket” — his campaign spent heavily in Iowa.
For Haley, who served as Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, a steady underdog campaign, aided by the struggles of DeSantis’ operation, was not enough to win over a very conservative Republican electorate driven by social issues like abortion and shaped by evangelical sensibilities.
She also may have faced the long-standing scepticism of Republican voters toward female candidates. After a Haley campaign stop in Waukee, Iowa, last week, Bruce Norquist, 60, a cybersecurity consultant from Urbandale, Iowa, said Haley was not strong, citing the threats posed to the country by disinformation campaigns from China and Russia and what he said were efforts to tamper with voting machines.
“I’m worried Nikki Haley isn’t sceptical enough,” he said. “Democracy is at stake.”
The final Iowa Poll conducted by The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom showed her finishing second, but, under those headline numbers, the survey attested to serious problems for Haley.
Only 9 per cent of her supporters said they were extremely enthusiastic about voting for her. Most said they were mildly enthusiastic or not enthusiastic at all. On Caucus Day, enough of those voters either failed to show up or switched their votes.
That was not the case for Trump’s voters, who have shrugged off any worries about nominating a former president facing 91 felony counts from four criminal prosecutions, a looming fraud judgement that could dismantle his New York real estate empire.
Until recent months, Haley appeared to be struggling to make up ground in Iowa, but a burst of momentum in the polls, both in Iowa and across the country, had created expectations she could not meet. Americans for Prosperity, the conservative network backed by the fortune of billionaires Charles and David Koch, endorsed her and spent more than $150,000 in the final weeks on a door-knocking and get-out-the-vote drive.
DeSantis, who bet his candidacy on the state, built a formidable ground operation and won the endorsements of Gov Kim Reynolds and Bob Vander Plaats, an influential leader of Iowa’s Christian right.
After the first national Republican debate in August in Milwaukee, Haley’s fundraising soared, crowds started to pick up at campaign events and she began to climb in the polls, particularly in New Hampshire. - The New York Times
Jazmine Ulloa
The writer is a politics reporter for TNYT
Jonathan Weisman
The writer is a political correspondent at TNYT
Instead, as Haley hobbles into New Hampshire, the pressure is on to show she can compete with Trump.
Her disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses on Monday showed that for all the hype, her momentum ultimately stalled in the face of a Republican electorate still in the thrall of the former president. That included not only Trump’s working-class base but also the bastions of college-educated Republicans in and around Des Moines that she was supposed to dominate.
In her speech after the caucuses, Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, sharpened her attack on Trump, questioning his age and his ability to unite a fractured country. She lumped Trump with President Joe Biden as backward-looking barriers to an American revival.
“The question before Americans is now very clear: Do you want more of the same or do you want a new generation of conservative leadership?” she asked, drawing loud applause and chants of “Nikki, Nikki.”
“Our campaign is the last best hope of stopping the Trump-Biden nightmare.”
Still, Haley’s final tally in Iowa most likely breathed some new life into the campaign of her rival, Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida, and indicated that, for all the excitement around her campaign in the closing weeks, her pitch may have limited appeal with Republicans.
With more than 95 per cent of precincts reporting late on Monday, Haley had 19 per cent of the vote, Trump 51 per cent and DeSantis 21 per cent. Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur and political newcomer who has relentlessly travelled the state on a largely self-funded bid, came in fourth, with 7.7 per cent, then dropped out and endorsed Trump.
Haley’s allies on Monday projected confidence that she was headed into more favourable territory in New Hampshire, where she hopes to turn the race into a head-to-head against Trump. The state’s Republicans are more moderate and less religious, and independents can vote in the primary, all factors that may work to Haley’s advantage.
“New Hampshire and Iowa are two very different states,” said Kimberly Rice, her campaign’s co-chair in New Hampshire.
“It is a 2-point difference,” said Rep Ralph Norman, R-SC, referring to the gap separating Haley and DeSantis. And he argued it was DeSantis “who put his eggs in only one basket” — his campaign spent heavily in Iowa.
For Haley, who served as Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, a steady underdog campaign, aided by the struggles of DeSantis’ operation, was not enough to win over a very conservative Republican electorate driven by social issues like abortion and shaped by evangelical sensibilities.
She also may have faced the long-standing scepticism of Republican voters toward female candidates. After a Haley campaign stop in Waukee, Iowa, last week, Bruce Norquist, 60, a cybersecurity consultant from Urbandale, Iowa, said Haley was not strong, citing the threats posed to the country by disinformation campaigns from China and Russia and what he said were efforts to tamper with voting machines.
“I’m worried Nikki Haley isn’t sceptical enough,” he said. “Democracy is at stake.”
The final Iowa Poll conducted by The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom showed her finishing second, but, under those headline numbers, the survey attested to serious problems for Haley.
Only 9 per cent of her supporters said they were extremely enthusiastic about voting for her. Most said they were mildly enthusiastic or not enthusiastic at all. On Caucus Day, enough of those voters either failed to show up or switched their votes.
That was not the case for Trump’s voters, who have shrugged off any worries about nominating a former president facing 91 felony counts from four criminal prosecutions, a looming fraud judgement that could dismantle his New York real estate empire.
Until recent months, Haley appeared to be struggling to make up ground in Iowa, but a burst of momentum in the polls, both in Iowa and across the country, had created expectations she could not meet. Americans for Prosperity, the conservative network backed by the fortune of billionaires Charles and David Koch, endorsed her and spent more than $150,000 in the final weeks on a door-knocking and get-out-the-vote drive.
DeSantis, who bet his candidacy on the state, built a formidable ground operation and won the endorsements of Gov Kim Reynolds and Bob Vander Plaats, an influential leader of Iowa’s Christian right.
After the first national Republican debate in August in Milwaukee, Haley’s fundraising soared, crowds started to pick up at campaign events and she began to climb in the polls, particularly in New Hampshire. - The New York Times
Jazmine Ulloa
The writer is a politics reporter for TNYT
Jonathan Weisman
The writer is a political correspondent at TNYT