Consider This from NPR - Haley's Out: Can Trump Win Her Supporters?

Episode Date: March 6, 2024

Nikki Haley's announcement that she was suspending her campaign for president didn't come as a surprise. She's trailed front-runner Donald Trump in all but two Republican primary contests so far. Haley did manage to sway some Republican voters away from Trump. She also managed to recruit independents and Democrats, too. As she ended her campaign on a stage in South Carolina, Haley did not endorse Trump. She said he would have to earn their votes.Nikki Haley appealed to Republicans who did not want another four years of Trump. Now that she's out of the race, where will her voters go? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

At one point in this campaign, there were 14 of us running. I was at 2% in the polls. But tonight, Iowa did what Iowa always does so well. That's former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on a frigid January night in Iowa after the Republican caucuses. Haley didn't win Iowa. She didn't even come close to former President Donald Trump. But she called it a win. I can safely say, tonight, Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race. Haley had planted her flag and insisted she wasn't going to give up her ground, or her voters, to Trump. The question before Americans is now very clear. Do you want more of the same?

Or do you want a new generation of conservative leadership? Haley pitched herself as an alternative to what she called Trump's chaos. She argued that a majority of Americans didn't want a Biden-Trump rematch and that Republicans deserved someone besides Trump. I don't believe Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden. Nearly every day, Trump drives people away. She didn't win in New Hampshire or South Carolina. I'm going to count it.

I know 40% is not 50%. But I also know 40% is not some tiny group. But it wasn't enough. And after Donald Trump's massive delegate haul on Super Tuesday, the math was unavoidable. The time has now come to suspend my campaign. I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard. I have done that. I have no regrets. Consider this. Nikki Haley appealed to Republicans who did not want another four years of Trump. Now that she's out of the race, where will her voters go? From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. It's Wednesday, March 6th.

It's Consider This from NPR. Nikki Haley's announcement that she was suspending her campaign for president did not come as a surprise. She has trailed frontrunner Donald Trump in all but two Republican primaries so far. But Haley did manage to sway some Republican voters away from Trump and recruit some independents and Democrats, too. As she ended her campaign on a stage in South Carolina, Haley did not endorse Trump. I have always been a conservative Republican and always supported the Republican nominee. But on this question, as she did on so many others. Margaret Thatcher provided some good advice when she said, quote, never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind. With Haley out of the race, it's now up to her supporters to make up their minds.

Will they support the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump? I talked about that with NPR political correspondent Sarah McCammon and NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez. Good to have you both here. Hey, Ari. Hi. Sarah, you've been following the Haley campaign from the earliest days as she announced its suspension. What did she say today? Well, as we heard, Ari, you know, Haley is out of the race and she's not promising to back the presumptive nominee, Donald Trump. She

and other candidates who participated in Republican National Committee debates had promised that they would do so, but she's indicating she may not feel bound to that pledge. She said that more than once now. And today, Haley had a warning for Trump. It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And I hope he does that. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. And this idea of widening the tent, bringing people together, that's been a big part of Haley's argument throughout the campaign. Tell us more about who those Haley voters are.

Yeah, you know, they're often Republicans, as you might imagine, who want an alternative to Trump. When I was here in South Carolina, where I am today, but when I was here a couple of weeks ago, ahead of their primary, I met Lynn Ward and her husband. They're from New Jersey. They were here vacationing in South Carolina and had decided to come see Haley campaign in a city called Beaufort along the South Carolina coast. Ward says they've supported Trump in the past, but they don't like the idea of voting for him again. We're kind of sick of Donald Trump. We've had enough of his antics. We will vote for Donald Trump if he's the only other choice. But we don't want that to happen.

And then there are independents like Josie Schmidt, who I met last weekend at a Haley rally in Richmond, Virginia. She's not a fan of Trump, but she's kind of a fiscal conservative. She says she wrote in a third party candidate in 2016. And in 2020, she voted for Biden, but she hasn't felt good about it. In my opinion, Biden is way, way out on the outer edge of what makes sense fiscally. You know, all this money he wants to forgive. I have a son that owes $40,000, I think, in student loans. I'd love for that to be forgiven. But does that make sense when we're $34 trillion in debt? And Schmidt told me that if she had to choose again between President Biden

and former President Trump, she'd probably write in Nikki Haley. Well, Frankel, let's bring you in here. Speaking to Sarah's point, what will Trump have to do to appeal to Haley voters? What are his challenges? I mean, he's got a number of challenges. I mean, Trump's long done better with the more conservative wing of the party while, you know, struggling with the more moderate faction, you know, especially among college educated and suburban Republicans. And for months, Trump has been, you know, attacking Haley, calling her supporters essentially Democrats, radical Democrats and globalists. And if you look at the exit polls from yesterday, from Super Tuesday,

these are voters who largely believe Biden legitimately won the election in 2020. And they're also concerned about Trump's legal troubles. And in key states, those findings show that in North Carolina and Virginia, the majority of Haley's supporters, when asked, would not even commit to supporting the Republican nominee. That's got to be eye-opening for the Trump campaign. So what does this divide in the GOP tell us about the state of the party today? I mean, it shows the very real vulnerabilities that Trump has as he tries to pivot to the general election and unite the party. I mean, he's going to need those voters. In states like Arizona and Georgia, the difference four years ago was only around 12,000

votes. In Wisconsin, it was 20,000 votes. I mean, these are extremely thin margins in the battleground states. And I do want to be clear, many of these voters are going to return home to the party, but it doesn't make much to, you know, to make a difference. And, you know, I spoke with John McHenry. He's a Republican pollster. He said some of these disaffected voters may look even elsewhere. I've been pretty dismissive of the third party movement in past races, but this is a contest where 70 percent of the voters say that they don't like the matchup that we have and that they would prefer for neither of these two to be

president. Biden, of course, has his own challenges. But again, it really just speaks to how every vote is going to count. Sarah, how does that fit with what you have heard from voters? It's right in line with what I've heard. I've also heard a lot of voters, Haley supporters, talk about third parties or write-in candidates. You know, people say, especially those inclined to support Haley, that they feel like they have no political home. Just one example, I met Rob Stommel at his polling station in Virginia Beach, where I was yesterday. He's a longtime Republican, but said he voted for Haley because he's feeling desperate and he doesn't want to vote for Trump again. So he's struggling with the idea of another Trump-Biden matchup. I don't know. It's very hard to say.

I vowed myself not to vote for Trump, so that puts me in a bad situation. And I consider myself a relatively conservative, and I feel like the Republican Party is just going way too far. At the same time, he worries about what he sees on the left. He says he's 81 years old. He's also concerned about the candidate's ages, another issue that Haley's often highlighted. Not a fan of President Biden, says he disagrees with him on immigration, for example. But overall, this campaign and the way it's shaping up seems to be motivating voters to vote against the

candidate they dislike, at least as much as for the one they do like. It's NPR's Sarah McCammon and Franco Ordonez with just 243 days to go until election day. Thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. This episode was produced by Avery Keatley and Vincent Accovino. It was edited by Courtney Dourning and Megan Pratz. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR.

I'm Ari Shapiro.