But he has also often lost considerable numbers of votes among moderate Republicans and independents – votes essential if he is to prevail against Democratic President Joe Biden in November. In New Hampshire as in South Carolina, these voters largely preferred Nikki Haley, the last Republican in the running to stand in her way. The fifty-year-old, former American ambassador to the UN under Donald Trump, cultivates an image of a more moderate candidate, promising to restore a certain “normality” among conservatives.
“Trump has a problem”
However, according to an exit poll last Saturday in South Carolina, 40% of his supporters indicated that they were opposed to the candidacy of Donald Trump. “A huge wake-up call,” according to Alyssa Farah Griffin, former communications director for the former president, when he was at the White House. “Someone who’s practically running as an incumbent president – Donald Trump – gets 60% of the vote and 40% are against him? It’s not exactly a coronation,” she said in an exchange on CNN.
“Donald Trump has a problem, whether he wants to admit it or not,” Nikki Haley warned in a statement Tuesday after losing a new primary to the former leader in Michigan. “40% of Republican voters want nothing to do with him and he is doing absolutely nothing to include them in his increasingly exclusive group,” she said. Nikki Haley has every interest in criticizing her rival’s electoral successes.
The Trump camp brushes aside its arguments, pointing to polls according to which outgoing President Joe Biden is also very poorly perceived by independent voters. “Trump is well positioned to win the election. He focuses on the issues that clearly matter to voters – transparent government, fiscal responsibility, energy independence and jobs numbers,” said Charlie Kolean, a Republican strategist.
Legal troubles
But Joe Biden’s campaign team is banking on the fact that the gap between the two candidates will narrow in the most contested states when Donald Trump, his flights of fancy, his escapades and his legal troubles will regain a central place in the daily lives of the people. voters. More than his performances in the primaries, it is the billionaire’s serial indictments – and all the time he will have to spend in court in 2024 – which worries Keith Nahigian, former member of Donald Trump’s team.