Nikki Haley Is Hot on Donald Trump's Heels

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is keeping up the pressure on frontrunner Donald Trump in the key early-voting state of New Hampshire, with one poll showing her just four points behind the former president in the Republican primary contest there.

While Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, still lags far behind Trump in national polls, she has gained some momentum due to strong performances in the televised debates and has won the support of some key donors.

The primary season, which will decide who contests the 2024 election, begins with the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15, swiftly followed by the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 23. These early-voting states can have an outsize influence in setting the trend in the primary race.

A poll of 600 likely GOP primary voters, conducted by American Research Group (ARG) between December 27 and January 3, shows Trump leading Haley in New Hampshire by 37 percent to 33 percent. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is third with 10 percent while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has 5 percent. The survey's margin of error is four points.

But the news has not worried the Trump campaign. When asked what the new poll meant for the Trump campaign, Steven Cheung, the former president's spokesperson, called the poll "garbage" and said Trump would beat Haley.

"It means any reporter who actually believes this garbage poll will lose all credibility once President Trump crushes the competition," he told Newsweek.

Newsweek also contacted representatives for Haley by email to comment on this story.

Trump's lead in New Hampshire is unchanged from ARG's December poll, which also showed Haley trailing him by 4 points. However, both candidates have gained voter share. In the previous survey, Trump had 33 percent of the vote compared to Haley's 29 percent. DeSantis, who was once expected to be Trump's biggest challenger, polled at 6 percent in that poll.

It follows a December 17 CBS poll which showed that Haley had narrowed Trump's lead in the state to 15 points (44-29 percent).

Nationally, a Rasmussen Reports survey in December of 792 likely Republican voters put Haley in second place in the GOP primary at 13 percent. This was an increase of four points from the 9 percent she recorded in a previous Rasmussen poll in November. The November poll put Trump on 50 percent, increasing to 51 percent in December.

However, Haley is still a long way behind the former president in Republican primary national polls, according to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight. With 11.2 percent of the vote share, Haley is polling behind DeSantis at 12.1 percent and Trump at 61.8 percent. Even if Haley makes gains in New Hampshire, Trump is still leading in all the other states FiveThirtyEight has polling data for and in many states Haley is in third place, behind DeSantis.

Nevertheless, her rise in New Hampshire has been enough to trigger a spending spree in the state by a pro-Trump Super PAC, aimed at undermining Haley's campaign as she makes gains. MAGA Inc. spent more than $3.4 million on TV ads targeting Haley in the state in late December, according to FEC filings reported by The Daily Beast.

Meanwhile, according to a recent Politico report, Trump has been asking his inner circle whether Haley would be a good running mate, despite also attacking her as "bird brain" on his social media platform Truth Social.

Haley recently dismissed these calls, telling Fox News: "I don't play for second."

Update 1/5/24, 10:31 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from Trump's campaign.