Pressure is on for Haley to pull off a strong performance in New Hampshire Tuesday after former President Trump easily won the Iowa GOP caucus this week. Haley finished in third place, though polling in the lead-up to the caucus showed her being more competitive against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
As The Hill’s Julia Mueller reported, experts are reading the tea leaves on Haley’s finish in Iowa differently, with some suggesting she may have performed better than expected while others suggest she faces a long road ahead of the New Hampshire primary.
“You don’t get that many opportunities to deliver a clear message to New Hampshire voters, and one of those opportunities is the day after Iowa, if you can credibly say, ‘I have momentum.’ And I think that opportunity was lost,” Dante Scala, a professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, told Julia.
Heading into next week, others have suggested that Haley needs to beat Trump or come close in New Hampshire to be considered viable heading into the next early nominating contests.
An average of New Hampshire surveys compiled by Decision Desk HQ and The Hill shows Trump at 44 percent and Haley at almost 35 percent, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is at around 6 percent.
“I think right now we’re at the beginning. It could very well be the end,” Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett told Julia. “If Nikki, or Ron for that matter, can make it competitive in New Hampshire, then you have a chance at a race.”
Meanwhile, DeSantis faces a tough road ahead after finishing in second in Iowa – a state his campaign and super PAC poured their resources into, as The Hill’s Julia Manchester and Caroline Vakil report.
“He cannot make an argument that he’s in a stronger position because he lost to Donald Trump by 30 points,” New Hampshire-based GOP strategist Mike Dennehy told Julia and Caroline , later adding, “He can say that his ticket was punched out of Iowa, but it’s a bus ticket going to Antarctica. I mean, it’s not — his campaign is going nowhere.”
