By Ahmad Dagher
INDIANA––Former Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley showed her staying power over Republican voters when she won 21.7 percent of Indiana’s primary this Tuesday, despite her no longer being in the run for president.
There are many questions about the role that Nikki Haley will now play in Former President Trump’s chances at winning the election. Given her residual popularity, her decision regarding whether to endorse Trump or remain uninvolved in the election will be immensely impactful in his campaign.
As of now, Haley has no plans to endorse Trump. But before March, when she dropped out, she had frequently focused on data that showed over 40% of Republicans favoring her over Trump, claiming this showed the vulnerability of Trump’s voter base.
Now that she has dropped out, it is unclear how many of her voters will become supporters of Trump. But whoever they side with, it will certainly make a difference: Haley had over 17% and 19% of supporters in Arizona and Pennsylvania respectively, which are both important swing states.
As Brittany Martinez, a GOP strategist, said: “Haley voters are going to be a really crucial and critical voting block…there is a lot at stake and from what I’m understanding it really sounds like neither the Trump nor Biden campaigns have tapped into that yet.”
But many Trump supporters think that appealing to Haley’s voter base is a waste of time, because when given the choice between Trump and Biden, Republican voters were bound to pick Trump.
The former President seemed to back that sentiment. “All of those people are going to come to me because what’s their choice? Biden, he’s the worst president in the history of our country,” he said in an interview this week. “They’re all coming to me. We see it already.”
But Haley had considerable sway with suburban voters, who may be more inclined to vote blue if she is not an option.
And any number of voters might make the difference. As Republic strategist Ford O’Connell noted, “…this election is going to be decided by inches on the Electoral College map.” Some think that Trump would do well to recruit Haley as his VP.
At least for now, however, Trump has denied any rumors of Haley becoming his running mate.
