Nikki Haley was once a mere blip on the radar, but now she is breathing right down Ron DeSantis' neck in national polls.
Haley also just picked up a significant endorsement in an early election state, which could boost her significantly in the early days of this election.
In national polling, Nikki Haley is now right behind Ron DeSantis, a mere 0.8% behind, but Haley is fairing very well in the early election states.
Iowa will kick everything off on January 15, where Trump is winning (46.7), DeSantis in second (19.6), and Haley in third (15.0).
The DeSantis camp remains confident they are going to come out of Iowa in the lead, but that would be a huge upset based on the current polling.
Next is New Hampshire, where Trump leads (44.2) and Haley continues improving (18.7). DeSantis is actually a distant fourth in the race, only polling at 9.7% right now, behind even Chris Christie, who is polling at 13.0%.
Generally speaking, I dismiss endorsements, but in this case, and based on how much the people of New Hampshire love Governor Sununu, his endorsement of Haley could have her coming out of the state in the lead.
Sununu even suggested that everyone else remove themselves from the race and let Haley take on Trump head's up. In endorsing Haley, he stated:
"This is a race between two people – Nikki Haley and Donald Trump. That's it."
He added that he believes Haley has made a real connection with voters, and "her numbers are moving."
This is not good for Ron DeSantis, whose campaign has completely imploded due to the constant attacks by Donald Trump since January.
Go back 12 months ago, and MAGA was firmly behind DeSantis and supporting him on social media against Democrat attacks; now they are hurling insults that his wife looks like a vampire and Ron DeSantis wears lifts in his boots.
They have also resorted to calling him a RINO, which is the biggest insult you can use against a Republican in today's political environment.
If DeSantis comes out of New Hampshire and Iowa in 3rd place, his campaign could be over before Super Tuesday because he knows he will not fare well in South Carolina.
The man was an absolute political rock star on the right before Trump went after him, and now, his career could be over once he leaves the governor's mansion at the completion of his current term.
That would honestly be a tragedy of the worst kind for conservatives because the future for DeSantis was extremely bright, which would have only helped the Republican Party move forward.
Just think about this… had DeSantis waited until 2028 to run, Donald Trump would have given him his full endorsement. Since he chose to run in 2024, when his political profile was at its height, Trump wrecked him and possibly destroyed his entire career.
