She echoed this warning during an Aug. 27 appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" hosted by Maria Bartiromo. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, stressed that incumbent President Joe Biden may not be able to make it through an entire second term even if he wins in 2024. This opens the door for incumbent Vice President (VP) Kamala Harris to replace him in the Oval Office.
"We have to make sure we win this because the thought of Harris being president should send a chill up every American's spine," Haley told Bartiromo. To accomplish this goal, she added that the GOP needs to target suburban women, Hispanic voters and Asian-American voters. The erstwhile governor had been insinuating for months that a vote for Biden in the 2024 elections means a vote for the former California attorney general.
"My concern is we cannot have Harris as president. We can't chance this. We have to make sure that we have a new generational leader that's going to bring in not only Republicans, but … pull back the independents."
This was not the first time the former governor of the Palmetto State voiced out her opposition to the incumbent VP becoming the chief executive. In July 2023, Haley told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at the Family Leadership Summit: "We can't afford a President Harris. I will say that over and over again."
The 51-year-old Haley, who formerly served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under the Trump administration, has made age a focus of her 2024 bid. She has called for mental competency tests for politicians older than 75 – a clear shot at both the 80-year-old Biden and 77-year-old former President Donald Trump. Haley has also suggested that Biden is unlikely to survive a second term, in which he would be 86 if he finishes it.
During her appearance on Bartiromo's program, Haley also commented on Trump – her erstwhile boss turned rival for the GOP presidential nomination. She remarked that the former president, who is currently the frontrunner among GOP candidates, has a slim chance of winning.
"Trump is a friend of mine. It was an honor to serve in the [Trump] administration and work on foreign policy with him, and I agree with a lot of his policies," she said. "But the fact is, I don't know if it's four, five, six or how many indictments it is now – but he's going to spend a lot of time in a courtroom and not on a campaign trail."
But the latest surveys disprove Haley's claims about Trump. An average of recent polls conducted between Aug. 17 and Aug. 26 found that Trump has 53 percent of voters' support, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has 13 percent. Haley landed at fourth place with five percent of votes, trailing entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who received 7.5 percent.
Despite the former president's legal troubles, including four indictments, his lead has grown over the other candidates. The results of a Morning Consult poll as of Aug. 29 found that Trump leads the race with 58 percent. DeSantis landed in second place with 14 percent, while Haley recorded a five percent support, among voters. This put her in fifth place behind Ramaswamy and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Moreover, some polls also show that most Republicans view the criminal charges against Trump as politically motivated, making the topic a tricky one to navigate for his rivals. (Related: Poll: 55% of independents find Trump's indictment politically motivated – because IT IS.)
Visit VoteRepublican.news for more stories about Trump, Haley and other GOP presidential candidates.
Watch Nikki Haley blasting Vice President Kamala Harris' "embarrassing" response to the border crisis in this Fox News interview.
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GOP presidential primary debate: No one came out to challenge Trump's dominance.
Trump will NOT attend any Republican primary debates, but dominates the field anyway.
Polling indicates Trump's nomination by the Republican National Convention is ALL BUT GUARANTEED.
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