Results from the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday show former president Donald Trump on top of the leaderboard once again, leaving former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in a significant wake behind him. The world is watching as these two go head to head for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
With over 96% of results in on Wednesday, NPR reports Trump has taken home 54.3% of the votes with Haley at only 43.3%. On top of that, Trump won three-quarters of the GOP vote. Even though Haley did win around 60% of the independent voters, this shows her hold over the GOP may not be strong enough to win the Republican presidential nomination.
This comes after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race Sunday, as reported by the Associated Press. After a win over Haley in Iowa, DeSantis threw in the towel and put his support behind the former president.
DeSantis is not the only former candidate to go ahead with this endorsement. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott from South Carolina all backed Trump before the primary vote, according to the Associated Press. This came as a betrayal to Haley; she is also a South Carolinian alongside Scott and helped to push his career forward when she served as the governor.
Nonetheless, Haley has not quit her campaign just yet, which has taken an anti-Trump angle. Politico reports Haley hopes to encourage a new generation of Republicans. This heavily relies on moderate support, as radical Republicans are typically huge on Trumpism. To learn more about Haley’s two-decade-long political ascent and full background, I highly encourage you to read the full Politico article.
New Hampshire’s primary was almost like a deciding factor, and Haley’s loss could truly mean a rematch between current president Joe Biden and Trump is on its way. Yet, voters have continuously claimed they don’t want to see a rematch. Additionally, legal disputes over Trump's presence on the ballot could mean difficulties for another presidential win.
The question becomes this: could the GOP nominate Haley without primary wins?
The short answer is no, that is extremely unlikely. According to the Library of Congress, that hasn’t happened much at all since the introduction of primaries in the 1920s. If the GOP were to nominate Haley, it would appear to be a betrayal to Republican voters who took the time to go to the polls during the primaries and result in a corrupt system.
Still, Haley’s home state is quickly approaching in the primaries, and she may finally take home a win in the upcoming race. The unprecedented circumstances of Trump’s indictment could also shake up the nomination process. It’s worth the watch to see how long the former U.N. Ambassador will hold out and if Haley could truly take home the nomination despite the odds.
Claire Schiopota is a senior studying journalism. Please note that the opinions expressed in this column do not reflect those of The Post. Want Claire to cover a certain topic or talk about her column? Email her at cs123719@ohio.edu or tweet her @CSchiopota.
