You’re well aware of the fact that Donald Trump excommunicated Nikki Haley’s followers and donors. That last part I find amazing, because as in debt as Trump is, he’s in no position to turn down money from anywhere. Nevertheless, that’s what he said. Trump crowed over Haley’s loss and his victory on Super Tuesday, in his usual crass manner.
And he apparently doesn’t think he needs to earn her supporters’ votes. At least, that is what he said.
Trump says he doesn't need Nikki Haley voters: I'm not sure we need too many pic.twitter.com/E48IBBMdtx
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) March 6, 2024
He’s very arrogant here. This is vintage Trump in this clip. He’s got it all sewn up. I can only presume that he has not seen these exit polls. These would make anybody cringe.
Consider CNN’s exit poll data, which Manu Raja called a “warning sign” for Donald in the general election. In North Carolina, a state that is a much better representation of the country than some of the other deep red states:
- A significant 66% percent of Haley voters said Donald is not physically or mentally fit to be president.
- A vast majority, 81% of Haley voters, said they’re not an automatic vote for Donald.
According to ABC News, In Virginia, a plurality of Haley voters said they approved of the job Joe Biden was doing as president. In North Carolina, the number was 50%. […]
The candidate who captures more of Haley’s voters will have the easiest path to victory in the general election.
And if you are looking for more encouragement, check out the priorities of these voters:
According to ABC News
- 76% of Haley voters oppose a federal abortion ban
- 60% support a chance for most undocumented immigrants to apply for legal status.
While 59% of Donald’s voters say they are “angry about the way things are going in this country,” only 21% of Haley’s voters feel that way.
Trump’s voters are in nonstop rage 24/7. Trump did tap into the rageaholic vote. I don’t know if that was even considered a voting bloc before Trump, but it should be going forward.
The people who voted for Haley were voting not so much for her as a candidate as they were voting for somebody who symbolizes some kind of Republican normalcy. Ron DeSantis never did. He was his own kind of weird, trying to ride Trump’s coattails into being the inheritor of the MAGA throne. That blew up in his face. The more people got to know him, the more his polls plummeted.
Chris Christie never had a serious chance, although he was very refreshing to listen to. He didn’t have enough of a voting bloc, same thing for Tim Scott, without the refreshing part. Vivek Ramaswamy is another media whore, non serious person who wants to get into politics at the top, an endeavor to which he has nothing to offer.
So that was the group you saw. Now, there is only one person standing, and that’s Trump. And if these exit polls are even remotely accurate, he will be defeated by both a strong Democratic turnout and by a lot of the Republicans who he has excommunicated turning their backs on him.
He needs to win back the votes of the disenchanted. Can he do that? Or, is he just going to continue to insult them?
Trump calls Nikki Haley supporters "RINOs," "never Trumpers," and "communists" pic.twitter.com/1ERny54qmM
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) March 6, 2024
I’m no defender of Nikki Haley. I think she is a vapid, bland candidate that made that blandness play out as moderate. That alchemy was something to behold. But at least she galvanized enough people into standing up to Trump and following somebody else — a feat which DeSantis was utterly incapable of. And now that genie is out of the bottle. A substantial anti-Trump schism is in the GOP, along with the anti-Trump sentiment in the rest of the country.
In the end I don’t think Haley would beat Biden in November but she could make it a lot tougher for Biden to prevail, precisely for the reason you pointed out. Extreme as some of her views are she has an ability to come across on the stump as far more sane and moderate than her actual beliefs. I see her as a younger, not as experienced and polished version of former Congress Critter and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. I feared he would run since 2016. He is OUT there with his beliefs and policies but goddamn if he doesn’t come across every time he’s on camera as the most down home reasonable and moderate guy you could ever find in high stakes politics. Policy wise he’s the anti, or evil version of Biden, a regular person regular people can relate to and feel reassured by.
Haley has the potential to become the same damned thing. I still worry about Kasich. I won’t breathe easy until we are past the nominating convention and he hasn’t been recruited in to save the GOP if, as is quite possible everything goes off the rails. What I’m driving at is that if Haley remains non-committal through the election she could become another Kasich. A true extremist with the ability to fool voters into thinking she’s not. Again I note she’s only fifty give or take a year. There are THREE Presidential cycles to come before she’s even hit senior citizen (65) age so don’t dismiss her.
I suspect if Haley prevailed, trump would actively campaign against her. Most of his supporters would stay home.