Pressure Builds for Haley to Drop out of GOP Primary

Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and 2024 Republican presidential candidate,
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty
Wendell Husebø

Tremendous pressure is building for former Gov. Nikki Haley to drop out of the GOP presidential primary, according to polling and political experts.

After Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) exited the race Sunday, Haley’s path to the nomination did not appear to improve. In fact, DeSantis’ endorsement of former President Donald Trump further consolidated support behind the former president, placing pressure on Haley to also end her fledgling campaign.

In all states besides New Hampshire, Trump leads by no less than 30 points. Haley also trails Trump in the Granite State by about 15 points, highlighting Haley’s bleak path to the GOP nomination. “[I]f she can’t win there — or come close to it — it’ll be a tough sell to stay in the race till South Carolina, four weeks later,” Politico Playbook reported Monday.

Nate Cohn, the New York Times’ chief political analyst, wrote Monday the polling undoubtedly shows Haley’s inevitable resignation from the race, so Trump can turn his focus to defeating President Joe Biden. “So, without a monumental shift in the race, he will secure the nomination in short order,” he said.

“Anything short of a victory or narrow defeat would put pressure on her to drop out rather than face three weeks of punishing ads from the Trump campaign in her home state, where she is already behind,” Lisa Lerer, Jazmine Ulloa, and Michael C. Bender of the New York Times reported: “Haley’s performance on Tuesday is likely to determine the future of her campaign — and possibly her political career.”

Refusing to drop out, Haley appeared on the back foot during an early morning Monday interview. “I know the political class is saying everybody needs to get behind Trump,” she told America’s Newsroom on Fox News. “This is not a coronation,” she insisted. “We haven’t started with this [New Hampshire] election yet. We don’t do coronation. It’s about giving people options.”

Scott Jennings, a Republican operative, believes there is “little proof” Haley’s campaign has any momentum. “That is not what a majority of Republican voters are clearly saying over and over again that they want. They want to replay this one more time so Donald Trump can be right,” he told Political Playbook.

RELATED: Chuck Todd — Nikki Haley Is ‘Not Campaigning to Win’

“Too little, too late,” Haley backer and a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, Fergus Cullen, told the Times about Haley’s prospects. “She had to inspire and engage unaffiliated voters, and I just haven’t seen her doing what she needs to do to reach that audience and turn them out in the numbers that she needs.”

Dave Carney, a New Hampshire-based Republican strategist, said the energy in the state appears solidly behind Trump. “You don’t see the frenzy, the frenetic activity,” he told Politico. “You don’t see the movements that are usually going on where you have folks crisscrossing the state, trying to get every last vote.”

 “Trump commands the Republican Party,” Sean Westwood, a professor of government at Dartmouth College, told the BBC. “He certainly did dominate in Iowa relative to DeSantis and Haley, and he will do the same in New Hampshire.”
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.

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