Categories: Politics

Haley turns up the heat on Trump as she tries to close the gap in the New Hampshire primary

Nikki Haley, down by double digits to former President Trump in the latest surveys four days ahead of the New Hampshire GOP primary, is taking every chance she has to blast the GOP front-runner.

“You look at Iowa. I mean President Trump won a state of three million people with 56,000 votes. We had a very low turnout in Iowa. We’re going to have a really good turnout in New Hampshire,” Haley told reporters at her first retail stop Friday morning as she pilloried Trump’s landslide victory in Monday’s Iowa caucuses.

A day earlier at a stop in Hollis, New Hampshire, the former South Carolina governor, who served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, blasted the former president for GOP losses at the ballot box in recent election cycles.

“The reality is, who lost the House for us? Who lost the Senate? Who lost the White House?” Haley emphasized as she held a rare question and answer session with reporters on Thursday. “Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump.”

HALEY ARGUES DESANTIS IS ‘INVISIBLE’ – STRESSES ‘IT’S TRUMP WE’RE GOING AFTER’

Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, right, visits Newfields Country Store with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu during a campaign stop on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024, in Newfields, New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Trump called Haley a “disaster” at a rally in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on Tuesday night. 

The next night, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Trump claimed that Haley will “never secure the border” and that she “wants to gut Medicare and Social Security.”

Firing back during a campaign event in Rochester, New Hampshire, Haley criticized Trump for his past support for increasing the federal gas tax and raising the retirement age and accused him of lying about her own record.

DESANTIS CAMPAIGNS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, BUT MOST OF HIS STAFF DECAMPS IN SOUTH CAROLINA

“He honestly thinks if he says something, it just becomes true,” she told the crowd.

She told Fox News that Trump “knows we’re a threat” and is “throwing temper tantrums.”

Republican presidential candidate former President Trump speaks at a campaign event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Additionally, Haley’s campaign posted a video stocked with past clips of Trump praising her.

SFA Fund Inc., a super PAC aligned with Haley, is also targeting Trump with TV ads and mobile billboards, charging Trump as a liar and spotlighting the “chaos and drama” surrounding him. 

According to the media tracking firm AdImpact, the super PAC has shelled out over $6 million to run commercials in New Hampshire since the beginning of the year, making it the biggest spender in the state.

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Haley is also getting a big assist in taking on Trump from her top surrogate and adviser in the state, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu.

Sununu, who endorsed Haley last month and who has joined her at each stop on the campaign trail, has long been a vocal GOP critic of the former president. 

Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley listens to 10-year-old Hannah Kesselering during a campaign stop on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Haley’s also blasting Trump on her social media page on X.

After Trump falsely claimed this week that Democrats could vote on Tuesday in the New Hampshire Republican primary, she fired back.

“Another reason we need to move on from Trump: too many lies. Democrats can’t vote in the NH primary. They haven’t been able to change their registration for months,” Haley posted.

Haley has repeatedly argued all week that it is a two-person race in New Hampshire, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a distant third in the single digits in public opinion surveys.

However, the big question is whether Haley’s increased attacks on Trump, and her hustling on the campaign trail, can help her close the gap with the former president.

The latest Suffolk University tracking poll of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, which was released early Friday morning, indicated Haley down by 17 points to the former president.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

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