In the race for the GOP nomination, Donald Trump has shifted his attention towards the upcoming New Hampshire primary, following his record-setting victory in Iowa. However, the current governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, hopes to halt Trump’s momentum and emerge as a more centrist candidate in the primary scheduled for January 23.
Haley was edged out by Ron DeSantis for second place in Iowa, where Trump ran up the score with nearly every GOP demographic and in every type of community, setting a record margin of victory for a competitive Republican Iowa caucuses. Trump’s allies have used this victory to argue that the race should be over, so he can focus solely on building a strong campaign to defeat President Biden in November.
Despite the challenges, Haley remains optimistic and believes that Trump’s controversies have hurt the GOP’s chances of defeating Biden in November. She congratulated Trump on his Iowa victory, but quickly touted her prospects in New Hampshire, where she hopes to tap into a more moderate electorate and offer a new generation of conservative leadership.
However, Haley’s chances of success in New Hampshire may be hampered by her current position in the polls, where she falls behind Trump. Before Iowa, the FiveThirtyEight average of polls in New Hampshire had Trump at 43% vs 30% for Haley, and just under 6% for DeSantis. Craig Robinson, a former Republican Party political director in Iowa, believes that Haley needs this race to be a head-to-head contest if she has any chance of winning.
Meanwhile, DeSantis faces questions about the future of his campaign, given his second-place finish in Iowa and his intense focus on the state. Despite this, he remains upbeat about his chances and insists on continuing his run, with events scheduled in South Carolina and New Hampshire.
Trump’s dominant performance in Iowa means that a solid win in New Hampshire could effectively knock out the competition. However, his campaign estimates that he would not collect the required delegates for the nomination until March.