Uncommon Knowledge
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Nikki Haley is now Donald Trump‘s main challenger in the 2024 GOP primary, although she still trails the former president by a large distance, according to a poll.
A Rasmussen Reports survey of 792 likely Republican voters shows that the former South Carolina governor is the second-placed candidate in the GOP primary at 13 percent while Trump is way out ahead with 51 percent.
Haley, who has seen some momentum for her 2024 campaign off the back of strong performances in the televised debates, has seen her support rise marginally in the primary and is up four points from the 9 percent she recorded in a previous Rasmussen poll in November when Trump was on 50 percent.
The survey also arrived after a December 17 CBS poll showed that Haley had narrowed Trump’s lead in New Hampshire to 15 points (44-29 percent).
CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP/Getty Images
The latest Rasmussen poll also shows that support for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was once considered Trump’s ideal replacement for the Republican presidential nomination, is fading with just weeks until the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary in January. DeSantis is currently in joint third place with 9 percent, tied with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Elsewhere, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently announced that his campaign will be pulling all televised ads ahead of the start of the primary season, received just one percent support in the latest Rasmussen report.
Both Haley and Ramaswamy have been touted as potential picks to be Trump’s 2024 running mate if the former president clinches the Republican presidential nomination.
There have long been suggestions that Trump could choose a female running mate in 2024 to broaden the ticket’s appeal, with Haley also likely to help Trump gain further support from more moderate Republican and independent voters.
According to a recent Politico report, Trump has been asking his inner circle whether Haley would be a good running mate.
Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, is one of several MAGA figures who have pushed back on the idea, telling Newsmax that he would “go to great lengths to make sure” his father didn’t choose Haley as his running mate.
Haley herself has dismissed calls that she will be Trump’s potential vice president, recently stating: “I don’t play for second.”
Danielle Vinson, a professor of politics and international affairs at Furman University in South Carolina, also downplayed the idea that Haley, who served in the Trump administration as the United States ambassador to the United Nations, would want to be his running mate.
“She is not someone that I can envision sitting quietly in meetings and supporting some of Trump’s more chaotic or constitutionally questionable plans and actions,” Vinson told Newsweek.
“Even if she doesn’t win the nomination in 2024, she has positioned herself well for a future run. If she were to serve as Trump’s VP, she will own everything he does, and she will not have his support at the end of it—like with Mike Pence.”
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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