Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has emerged as a dark horse in this year’s presidential race… and she just hit a new height.
Now, Haley is trailing former President Donald Trump by only four points in early-voting New Hampshire, according to American Research Group’s poll released Wednesday.
Given the poll’s four-point margin of error, Haley and Trump are in a dead heat.
But even with a stunning New Hampshire victory, Haley is quickly running out of time.
From Dec. 27 to Jan 3, the pollsters surveyed 600 “likely Republican primary voters” by telephone. They found Trump polling at 37%, Haley polling at 33%, former New Jersey Gov. Christie at 10%, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 5% — with 9% remaining undecided.
Haley began climbing in the polls after the GOP’s first primary debates, and she rose even further after last month’s endorsement from New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.
As of Wednesday, both Haley and Trump rose four points in one month, and the lower-polling candidates declined.
But the GOP primaries begin in a matter of weeks. Iowans will caucus for their preferred candidates on Jan. 15, and Trump is expected to dominate. New Hampshire voters will visit the polls eight days later.
Some Haley supporters are seeing her window of opportunity close.
Longtime Republican establishment strategist David Kochel has advised Iowa Republicans like Gov. Kim Reynolds, Sen. Joni Ernst, and Rep. Ashley Hinson. He wants Haley to succeed but sees her as too far behind.
“Iowa has elected a number of candidates who sound a lot like Nikki Haley … strong conservative women,” Kochel told the Los Angeles Times Thursday. “Now the question is — is there enough time?”
Republican lawyer Doug Gross endorsed Haley, according to the newspaper, and he sees a path following New Hampshire’s primary.
“Then [after New Hampshire] you have a shootout in her home state of South Carolina,” he said. “That’s as good as it could get for Nikki Haley.”
However, Gross told the outlet that Haley should have spent more time in Iowa, in addition to New Hampshire.
Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, echoed this sentiment and said Haley could become the “Never Trump” candidate of choice.
“If she finishes strongly in Iowa, and by strongly, I would say second place ahead of DeSantis … it’s plausible she can come to New Hampshire and say, ‘Look, New Hampshire, it’s either me or Trump,'” Scala told the outlet.
Haley has been hammering Trump’s unelectability in campaign ads — but still trails in national polls by over 30 points.
The Horn editorial team