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Though she has nearly doubled her support since November, only 46 percent of those surveyed said they now have a favorable view of Haley, which is 10 percentage points lower than in November; Trump’s favorability, meanwhile, has remained steady at 59 percent.

After finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa caucuses, Haley has placed her hopes on New Hampshire. It is a state known for its contrarian streak where voters unaffiliated with either political party — who constitute close to 40 percent of the electorate here — are eligible to vote in whatever primary they choose. With no real contest on the Democratic side, independents have the potential to be a major factor in the Republican race.

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But it didn’t help her case when this self-proclaimed teller of hard truths — someone whose most admirable achievement as governor of South Carolina was removing a Confederate flag from the State House grounds — flubbed a question about the cause of the Civil War by failing to mention slavery.

Or that when CNN’s Dana Bash asked the only woman in the race how she felt about the front-runner being held liable for sexual abuse, Haley claimed she hasn’t “paid attention to his cases.”

Or that Haley has shrugged off Trump’s racist dog whistles about her Indian heritage. She has said she would “let the people decide” what he means when he falsely suggests the daughter of immigrants who had not yet become citizens when she was born is ineligible to run for president and brings up her first name “Nimrata” (which she has never been known by), mockingly misspelling it “Nimbra.”

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This, mind you, is a woman who has boasted on the debate stage that she wears 5-inch stilettos "not for a fashion statement; they’re for ammunition.” But Haley’s campaign appearances tend to be cautious and scripted, and she rarely takes questions from her audiences.

Then there are some of the absurd promises that she makes. Were she president, she told a crowd here in Keene, she would tell Congress that if it doesn’t produce a budget on time — something it hasn’t done in two decades — “you don’t get paid, period.” (One problem with that: Article 1, Section 6 of the Constitution stipulates that "The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”)

From here, the contest for the nomination moves to South Carolina, which holds its GOP primary on Feb. 24. Without a burst of momentum out of New Hampshire, Haley faces the prospect of going down in a humiliating defeat in her home state.

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In recent days, Trump won the endorsement of South Carolina’s junior senator, Tim Scott, who himself had been a rival for the nomination before dropping out of the race in November. At his rally in Manchester on Saturday night, Trump brought onto the stage a lineup of prominent Palmetto State elected officials, including Gov. Henry McMaster, who told the boisterous crowd: “New Hampshire is for Trump. South Carolina is too. We’ll see you at the finish line.”

That, increasingly, is looking like it could be the hardest truth of all for Nikki Haley.

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KEENE, N.H. — Throughout her campaign for president, Nikki Haley has begun her stump speech with a declaration that she is going to deliver some “hard truths.” And then the former U.N. ambassador spends the next half-hour or so doing pretty much the opposite, sticking to applause lines that go down like vanilla ice cream with Republican audiences.

But now, in the final days before Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary that could be her last, best shot at a reasonably good showing against Donald Trump, Haley has at last begun to step up her criticism of the prohibitive front-runner.

She has questioned whether he is “mentally fit” to be president, blasted him for “trying to buddy up with dictators that want to kill us,” and called him out for “too many lies.”

But Haley still says she would pardon the former president, in whose administration she served, if Trump is convicted of any of the 91 criminal charges he faces. And cringingly, she continues to lament that chaos follows him “rightly or wrongly,” as if there is a possibility that Trump himself is not to blame for it.

Matt Bai: Biden or Haley? For some Democrats, it’s about who can stop Trump.

It is true that Haley has a delicate line to walk here, given her opponent’s iron grip on the MAGA base and the recent example of former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who tried a frontal assault on Trump and flamed out doing it.

Nor will she benefit from the surprise announcement Sunday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that he is suspending his own, once-promising campaign and endorsing Trump.

The latest Washington Post-Monmouth University poll of eligible New Hampshire voters, released Monday but conducted while DeSantis was still in the race, finds Trump holding a 52-34 lead over Haley, which is well outside the survey’s 4.2 percentage point margin of error.

Though she has nearly doubled her support since November, only 46 percent of those surveyed said they now have a favorable view of Haley, which is 10 percentage points lower than in November; Trump’s favorability, meanwhile, has remained steady at 59 percent.

After finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa caucuses, Haley has placed her hopes on New Hampshire. It is a state known for its contrarian streak where voters unaffiliated with either political party — who constitute close to 40 percent of the electorate here — are eligible to vote in whatever primary they choose. With no real contest on the Democratic side, independents have the potential to be a major factor in the Republican race.

But it didn’t help her case when this self-proclaimed teller of hard truths — someone whose most admirable achievement as governor of South Carolina was removing a Confederate flag from the State House grounds — flubbed a question about the cause of the Civil War by failing to mention slavery.

Or that when CNN’s Dana Bash asked the only woman in the race how she felt about the front-runner being held liable for sexual abuse, Haley claimed she hasn’t “paid attention to his cases.”

Or that Haley has shrugged off Trump’s racist dog whistles about her Indian heritage. She has said she would “let the people decide” what he means when he falsely suggests the daughter of immigrants who had not yet become citizens when she was born is ineligible to run for president and brings up her first name “Nimrata” (which she has never been known by), mockingly misspelling it “Nimbra.”

This, mind you, is a woman who has boasted on the debate stage that she wears 5-inch stilettos "not for a fashion statement; they’re for ammunition.” But Haley’s campaign appearances tend to be cautious and scripted, and she rarely takes questions from her audiences.

Then there are some of the absurd promises that she makes. Were she president, she told a crowd here in Keene, she would tell Congress that if it doesn’t produce a budget on time — something it hasn’t done in two decades — “you don’t get paid, period.” (One problem with that: Article 1, Section 6 of the Constitution stipulates that "The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”)

From here, the contest for the nomination moves to South Carolina, which holds its GOP primary on Feb. 24. Without a burst of momentum out of New Hampshire, Haley faces the prospect of going down in a humiliating defeat in her home state.

In recent days, Trump won the endorsement of South Carolina’s junior senator, Tim Scott, who himself had been a rival for the nomination before dropping out of the race in November. At his rally in Manchester on Saturday night, Trump brought onto the stage a lineup of prominent Palmetto State elected officials, including Gov. Henry McMaster, who told the boisterous crowd: “New Hampshire is for Trump. South Carolina is too. We’ll see you at the finish line.”

That, increasingly, is looking like it could be the hardest truth of all for Nikki Haley.

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Haley needs a New Hampshire win; the odds against it are growing

11 14
22.01.2024

Follow this authorKaren Tumulty's opinions

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Though she has nearly doubled her support since November, only 46 percent of those surveyed said they now have a favorable view of Haley, which is 10 percentage points lower than in November; Trump’s favorability, meanwhile, has remained steady at 59 percent.

After finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa caucuses, Haley has placed her hopes on New Hampshire. It is a state known for its contrarian streak where voters unaffiliated with either political party — who constitute close to 40 percent of the electorate here — are eligible to vote in whatever primary they choose. With no real contest on the Democratic side, independents have the potential to be a major factor in the Republican race.

Advertisement

But it didn’t help her case when this self-proclaimed teller of hard truths — someone whose most admirable achievement as governor of South Carolina was removing a Confederate flag from the State House grounds — flubbed a question about the cause of the Civil War by failing to mention slavery.

Or that when CNN’s Dana Bash asked the only woman in the race how she felt about the front-runner being held liable for sexual abuse, Haley claimed she hasn’t “paid attention to his cases.”

Or that Haley has shrugged off Trump’s racist dog whistles about her Indian heritage. She has said she would “let the people decide” what he means when he falsely suggests the daughter of immigrants who had not yet become citizens when she was born is ineligible to run for president and brings up her first name “Nimrata” (which she has never been known by), mockingly misspelling it “Nimbra.”

Advertisement

This, mind you, is a woman who has boasted on the debate stage that she wears 5-inch stilettos "not for a fashion statement; they’re for ammunition.” But Haley’s campaign appearances tend to be cautious and scripted, and she rarely takes questions from her audiences.

Then there are some of the absurd promises that she makes. Were she president, she told a crowd here in Keene, she would tell Congress that if it doesn’t produce a budget on time — something it hasn’t done in two decades — “you don’t get........

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