Nikki Haley amusingly called the primary a two-person race between Donald Trump and herself after she came in third place, behind Gov. Ron DeSantis, in the Iowa caucuses last night. But a surprising new poll showing her tied with Trump suggests she could be right.
In the survey, conducted by American Research Group, pollsters asked 600 likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire who they would vote for if the election were held today. While in December, voters favored Haley 29% to Trump's 33%, and on Jan. 3 this same question put Haley at 33% to Trump's 37%, the latest poll conducted on Jan. 12–15 showed Haley and Trump tied at 44%.
The all-but-forgotten DeSantis, on the other hand, dropped from a measley 5% to an even measlier 4% in the same poll. I'd say that does make it a two-person race after all, at least in the Granite State.
From Mediaite:
The poll relied on 600 completed telephone interviews among a random sample of likely Republican primary voters living in New Hampshire (406 Republicans and 194 undeclared voters (independents)) from January 12-15, 2024. Margin of Error: ± 4 percentage points, 95% of the time, on questions where opinion is evenly split.
These new numbers out of New Hampshire bolstered Haley's argument that she won't step on Thursday's debate stage unless she gets a shot at Trump.
Haley posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday: "We've had five great debates in this campaign. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it."
According to the New Hampshire Bulletin, ABC and WMUR "have officially given Donald Trump and Nikki Haley's campaigns a deadline of 5:00 pm Eastern time today to commit" to the debate.
Trump, who spent Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom in the E. Jean Carroll rape/defamation case, has not responded to Haley's debate challenge. That could leave Ron DeSantis on the stage all by his lonesome to answer the moderators' questions.
