Haley defends statement that Iowa voters made it a 2-person race

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday defended saying that Iowa voters made the GOP presidential primary a two-person race between her and former President Trump, despite her placing third in the caucus behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“First of all, look at where we started: I mean, when we started, there were 14 people in the race. We had 2 percent in the polls,” Haley said in an interview on “Fox & Friends” when pressed about her comment from a day earlier and her performance in the Hawkeye State.

“We came out with a strong showing. That’s what we wanted in Iowa,” she said.

On Monday, the former United Nations ambassador placed third in the caucus with about 19 percent of the vote, just shy of DeSantis’s approximately 21 percent. Trump easily won with 51 percent.

Haley said she was confident going into next week’s primary in New Hampshire, noting that’s where she’s dedicated much of her time and resources during the last several months and also pointing out her strong polls in the state.

According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s national primary polling average, Trump’s national GOP support is at 64.6 percent, while Haley’s is at 11.8 percent and DeSantis follows at 11.3 percent.

In New Hampshire, however, Haley performs much better: Trump leads with 41.4 percent, and Haley follows closely behind with 33.4 percent. DeSantis trails with 5.9 percent.

“Now, we’re in New Hampshire. You can look at the polls in New Hampshire. We’re a stone’s throw away from Donald Trump. And so, we’re going to continue to work really hard,” Haley said. “We’ve been here for 11 months. We’ve done over 75 town halls. We have been in Red Arrow Diner before.”

“And so, we’re going to continue to talk to people, but we know that that gave us the strength coming out of Iowa. We’re going to get even stronger in New Hampshire going to South Carolina,” she added.