Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Tuesday that Republicans need to “make a serious shift” if they want to win the November election, focusing in on key demographics with whom they can gain on Vice President Harris in the polls.
Haley told Fox News’s Bret Baier that former President Trump should stop discussing frivolous talking points, like comparing crowd sizes, and zero in on policy issues to appeal to voters.
“I think what they want is someone who’s going to care about them,” Haley said of voters. “They want someone who’s focused. They want someone who’s going to talk about the status of education right now in this country and that our kids are getting dumber, not smarter. They want someone to talk about homeownership and how hard it is to own a home.
“They want someone to talk about the fact that prices have gone up 19 percent, and they can’t do anything about it. They want someone to talk about how we’re going to prevent war. Those are the things,” she continued.
Trump can win, Haley argued, but he needs to focus on appealing to the blocs with which Harris is gaining traction over the former president.
“Look, this is a winnable election, but you need to focus. Who is your target market? Your target market is suburban women, college-educated, independents and conservative Democrats. That’s your target market.”
The Trump campaign appeared to be caught off guard by Harris’s rapid rise in polling when she entered the race, seizing on significant momentum to nearly eliminate Trump’s lead over President Biden.
Haley was extremely critical of Trump during her primary run, declaring the former president too old and not what America needs, though she has tempered her criticisms since. Haley endorsed Trump in May, potentially bringing with her a base of more moderate Republicans.
The former South Carolina governor also said she saw the switch from Biden to Harris coming, which she said is the reason she made it a centerpiece of her GOP primary campaign.