Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said that former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s (R) attacks on former President Trump came too late for it to potentially make a difference in the GOP primary.
During his appearance on CNN Saturday night, Sabato said that Haley’s diggs against Trump were long overdue and noted that the only other candidate in the Republican field who took on Trump directly was former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who dropped out of the race two weeks ago.
“It is definitely too little too late,” Sabato said, referencing Haley’s recent digs at Trump, including her questioning Trump’s mental fitness when he appeared to mix her up with former House Speaker Nanci Pelosi (D-Calif.) when talking about the Jan. 6 attack during a rally Friday.
“Chris Christie is the only Republican candidate running for president, no longer running now, but in the campaign, he was the only one who really took out after Trump,” Sabato said.
He noted that even with Christie’s approach, all other Republican candidates, including Haley, have a difficult job distinguishing themselves from the former president while still being able to gather enough support to secure the party’s nomination.
“Of course, he’s no longer in the campaign, which tells you the very difficult situation that all of these candidates, including Nikki Haley, found themselves in,” Sabato said. “This is the MAGA party. This is the Donald Trump party and so to get the nomination against Donald Trump, you have to somehow convince people that Trump is no longer up to the job or can’t win in November, but not offended so much that they won’t vote for you. And it’s a near impossibility.”
Sabato’s analysis comes after Trump won the Iowa Caucuses by over 50 points and is bringing that momentum to New Hampshire, where he is looking to win the first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 23.
The editor-in-chief of the “Crystal Ball,” a nonpartisan political analysis newsletter, cautioned that New Hampshire is “different” and that it might be one place where Haley, who has slowly climbed up in the polls, might be able to pull “an upset” victory.
“We know New Hampshire is very different,” Sabato said. “It’s the one place where someone like Haley might be able to pull an upset —might — but it isn’t looking like it yet,” he added.
Trump is currently leading in the Granite State with 46.7 percent, outpacing second-placed Haley by 11.4 percent. The former South Carolina governor has 35.3 percent, far ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) who is at 5.8 percent, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ aggregate of polls.
“There are times when they [New Hampshire voters] will shock everybody, you never know for sure until you see the votes coming in there,” Sabato concluded.