Nikki Haley Surges In Iowa, Gets On The Ballot In South Carolina – FITSNews

Neoconservative candidate picks up additional momentum …

Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley got great news in Iowa on Monday morning with a new poll showing her tied for second place in the early-voting Hawkeye State.

According to the results of the latest NBC News/ Des Moines Register poll, Haley is backed by 16 percent of likely 2024 Iowa caucus-goers – putting her in a tie with Florida governor Ron DeSantis. That is Haley’s highest-ever showing in an Iowa poll. The former United Nations ambassador is on the move, too, seeing her support climb by ten percentage points since the last survey from this polling outfit was released in August.

DeSantis, meanwhile, has dropped by three percentage points since the last survey.

“You just have Haley rising,” pollster J. Ann Selzer told the Register, referring to her momentum.

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Both Haley and DeSantis continue to trail former U.S. president Donald Trump by a huge margin, however. Trump is backed by 43 percent of likely caucus-goers, up incrementally from two months ago.

Still, Haley continues to position herself in several early-voting states – and nationally – as the No. 2 candidate in the GOP race. A steadfast supporter of the Jewish State, she is also no doubt benefiting from a surge in support for Israel following the recent terrorist attacks launched by Hamas fighters from Gaza.

An opportunistic neoconservative, Haley has ramped up her already heated warmongering rhetoric in the aftermath of the Hamas attack – and is expected to make it a centerpiece of the third GOP debate scheduled for next Wednesday evening in Miami, Florida.

Iowa is currently scheduled to hold its Republican presidential caucus on January 15, 2024. New Hampshire is expected to follow with its “First in the Nation” primary eight days later (January 23, 2024). Next up would be a GOP caucus in Nevada on February 8, 2024 followed by South Carolina’s “First in the South” Republican presidential primary on February 24, 2024.

Speaking of that primary, Haley made her home state candidacy official on Monday morning with a well-attended event at the S.C. State House. Haley was joined at her former stomping grounds by U.S. congressman Ralph Norman and state senator Tom Davis, two of her top Palmetto State supporters. Davis told the assembled crowd he always had a “feeling” about Haley.

“That feeling has always been I’m looking at somebody who is destined for greater things,” Davis said.

Longtime readers of this media outlet will recall it was Davis who convinced former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford to put $400,000 behind Haley’s struggling campaign for governor in the spring of 2010. That investment helped propel Haley to the front of the pack of GOP gubernatorial hopefuls – launching her political career at the statewide level.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.

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