Nikki Haley fares best against Biden in new poll

Indian American presidential contender’s supporters say they’d vote for Biden if Trump is the nominee

Indian American Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley fares best against President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election match-up— a point she highlighted after her third place finish in Iowa caucuses Monday.

A CBS News/YouGov poll released before the Iowa caucuses found that Haley, former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov Ron DeSantis each edge out Biden in a head-to-head match-up. But Haley, the former US ambassador to UN under Trump fared the best against Biden. She had an 8-point lead over Biden — 53% support to 45 .

READ: Nikki Haley calls herself ‘best hope of stopping Trump-Biden nightmare  (January 16, 2024)

This is likely due to her garnering more support among moderates and Independents than what Trump and DeSantis received, according to the survey.

The poll found that 59% of independent voters would support Haley in a match-up with Biden, while 55% and 54% of independents would back DeSantis and Trump, respectively. In a contest with Biden, DeSantis received 51% of support, while the president received 48%.

The match-up between Biden and Trump, the two front-runners for the 2024 election, was the closest among the GOP presidential hopefuls. The poll found that 50% of respondents would vote for Trump and 48% would vote for Biden.

Trump still maintains a comfortable lead in the Republican primary, according to the survey, leading the field by 55 points among Republican voters.

Trump has 69% of support, DeSantis has 14% and Haley has 12% in the poll conducted from Jan 10-12 among 2,870 adults, including 786 likely Republican primary voters.

Meanwhile, according to another poll likely Republican Iowa caucusgoers say they’ll vote for Trump in the general election if he’s the party nominee, regardless of the candidate they’re supporting on caucus night.

That is, except supporters of Haley, with nearly half of them — 43% — saying they’d vote for Biden over Trump.

The latest NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll of Iowa voters further illustrate the degree to which Haley is bringing in support from independents, Democrats and Republicans who have been uneasy with Trump’s takeover of the the Republican.

Fully half of her Iowa caucus supporters are independents or crossover Democrats, according to the survey results. Overall, Haley took 20% for second place in the survey, compared to 48% for Trump.

The poll also shows three-quarters of caucusgoers believing Trump can defeat Biden despite the former president’s legal challenges. But again, a majority of Haley’s supporters think it will be nearly impossible for Trump to win.

NBC News cited pollster J. Ann Selzer, who has been conducting this Iowa survey over the last three decades, as saying, “Haley is consolidating the anti-Trump vote. She does well with the people who define themselves as anti-Trump.”

Overall, the Iowa poll finds 71% of likely Republican caucusgoers saying they’ll vote for Trump in the 2024 general election if he’s the Republican presidential nominee, versus 11% who will vote for Biden, 6% who will vote for independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and 8% for another third-party candidate. The remainder say they’re not sure or wouldn’t vote.

But among the Iowa caucusgoers who are supporting Haley as their first-choice candidate, just 23% say they’ll vote for Trump, versus 43% who say they’ll vote for Biden.

That compares with 64% of DeSantis supporters and 98% of Trump backers who say they’ll vote for Trump if he’s the GOP nominee.

In addition, the NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll of Iowa finds 74% of likely Republican caucusgoers saying that Trump can win a general election despite his legal challenges, versus 23% who believe the former president’s legal challenges make it nearly impossible to defeat Biden.

Those results are essentially unchanged from December’s Iowa poll.

Once again, the breakdown among Haley’s supporters looks starkly different. Only 42% say Trump can win against Biden, while 54% say his legal challenges will make it nearly impossible to defeat the current Democratic president.