Neoconservative presidential candidate Nikki Haley has claimed that former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden are "equally bad."
Haley made the remarks during a Sunday interview with CNN’s Dana Bash.
“I mean, if they were — if either one of them was good I wouldn’t be running. Yes, they are equally bad, that’s why I’m running is because I don’t think we need to have Biden or Trump. I don’t think we need to have two 80-year-olds sitting in the White House when we’ve basically got to make sure that we can handle the war situation that — that we’re in,” Haley said.
“We need to know they’re at the top of their game. We need to know that they can take care of our national security and our economy. Right now, I don’t know that people feel like that with either one. So that’s why we’re giving them a choice,” Haley continued. Nikki Haley says Donald Trump is no better than Joe Biden:
“If either one of them was good, I wouldn't be running. Yes, they are equally bad—That's why I'm running.”pic.twitter.com/eAPoAKPhgT
— Proud Elephant 🇺🇸🦅 (@ProudElephantUS) January 22, 2024
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and populist entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have both dropped out of the Republican primary, leaving Haley as the only challenger to the clear frontrunner, Trump.
Many, including Trump and DeSantis, have pointed out that Haley is seemingly more popular with Democrats and the media class than with actual Republican voters.
A poll conducted ahead of the Iowa caucuses by NBC News, the Des Moines Register, and Iowa pollster Selzer & Co. found that Haley supporters in Iowa were twice as likely to vote for Biden as they are Trump, should she not win the Republican nomination.
Across the board, just 11 percent of Republican caucus-goes said they would flip and vote for Biden if Trump was the nominee. Looking only at Haley supporters, that number jumped to 43 percent.
Just 23 percent of Haley’s supporters said they would vote for Trump over Biden.
Nationally, Trump leads the former Boeing board member 66.1 to 11.5 points, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls.
