Poll: Nikki Haley Sees Bump in Support While Trump Leads by Double Digits

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has experienced a bump in support since formally launching her 2024 presidential bid, although she still trails former President Donald Trump by double digits, a recent Morning Consult survey found.

Prior to her launch last week, Haley hovered around three percent support in this particular survey. It has since doubled, rising to six percent in the field of potential GOP challengers. However, Trump — the only other candidate listed in this survey who has formally announced a presidential bid — has also experienced a rise in support, going from 47 percent this week to 50 percent Tuesday. In other words, while Haley’s support doubled by three percent, Trump also increased his lead by the same percentage in this time frame.

However, Morning Consult also notes that Haley has experienced a “big boost in popularity since launching her bid” as well.

“The latest survey tracking shows the share of potential Republican primary voters with favorable views of the former governor has increased from 45% to 62%, placing her behind only Trump and DeSantis,” it reports, speculating on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s political future, as he has not formally announced an intention to run for president. Regardless, this same survey currently shows Trump leading the Florida governor by 20 percentage points.

@NikkiHaley / Twitter

The survey also found Haley with a positive approval rating, with 62 percent viewing her favorably, compared to 11 percent who view her unfavorably. However, 14 percent said they have heard of her yet have no option, and 13 percent said they have never heard of her at all. 

It also showed just five percent of Trump supporters viewing Haley as their second choice candidate. That figure increases among DeSantis supporters, as 18 percent view Haley as their second choice candidate. 

The survey was conducted February 17-19, 2023, among 3,217 potential GOP primary voters and has a +/- 2 percent margin of error. It comes one week after Haley formally announced her 2024 presidential bid, calling for a “new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country our pride and our purpose.”

Haley’s bid comes despite the fact that she stated in 2021 that she would not run in 2024 if Trump ran. 

“I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it. That’s something we’ll have a conversation about at some point, if that decision is something that has to be made,” she said at the time.

The two reportedly had a conversation to this effect.

“I talked to her for a little while. I said, ‘Look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run,’” Trump said of the conversation. “She called me and said she’d like to consider it, and I said you should do it.”