Former President Donald Trump is leading former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, the latter of whom formally announced her 2024 presidential bid Tuesday, by double digits in a head-to-head Republican primary matchup, a recent YouGov America/Yahoo News survey found.
The survey found a plurality of Republicans, 48 percent, approve of Haley throwing her hat in the presidential ring, while one in five, 22 percent, disapprove of it. Another 30 percent remain unsure.
However, when asked to choose between Haley or Trump, most Republicans, 54 percent, said they would choose Trump. Haley falls 27 percent behind with 27 percent support among Republicans. Trump also boasts a 17 percent lead among Republican-leaning independents as well, 48 percent to Haley’s 31 percent:
The survey was taken February 2-6, 2023, among 1,585 U.S. adults.
On Tuesday, Haley officially announced her presidential bid in a video on social media, calling for “change.”
“I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for president,” she said, highlighting her background as the daughter of Indian immigrants.
“I was born and raised in South Carolina. So I’ve seen the very best of our country. People here threw out the old, tired political establishment and demanded accountability for their tax dollars. Industry reports called us the ‘Beast of the Southeast,’ which I love. People came by the thousands for fresh starts. Moms and dads held their heads up high. Children learned that it was always a great day in South Carolina,” she said, contending that Republicans have “lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change.”
“It’s time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country our pride and our purpose,” she added:
Notably, Haley in 2021 pledged not to run against Trump if he chose to run.
“I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it,” she said at the time. “That’s something that we’ll have a conversation about at some point if that decision is something that has to be made.”
According to reports, she did have a conversation with Trump, who said he told her, “Look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run.”
“She called me and said she’d like to consider it, and I said you should do it,” Trump added.
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