Nikki Haley turns up the heat on Donald Trump as she aims to close the gap with the former president in Tuesday's New Hampshire GOP presidential primary
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley predicted that 'we're going to have really good turnout' in Tuesday's GOP presidential primary in New Hampshire.
NEWFIELDS, N.H. – 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."
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Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley visits Newfields Country Store with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, left, during a campaign stop in Newfields, New Hampshire, on Friday. (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.
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"He honestly thinks if he says something, it just becomes true," she told the crowd.
Haley told Fox News that Trump "knows we're a threat" and is "throwing temper tantrums."
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Wednesday. (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.
Haley listens to 10-year-old Hannah Kesselering during a campaign stop in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Haley is 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.
The Trump campaign, responding, pointed to Haley's third place finish in Iowa, far behind Trump and narrowly behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
"After her embarrassing third place finish in Iowa, Nikki Haley is getting desperate as she realizes using money from Democrat donors and trying to appeal to Democrat voters is no way to win a Republican primary," Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt argued in a comment to Fox News.
Haley has repeatedly argued all week that it is a two-person race in New Hampshire, with DeSantis 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.
Haley chats with guests and customers while visiting Newfields Country Store during a campaign stop in Newfields, New Hampshire, on Friday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Haley is picking up the pace on the campaign trail in the closing days ahead of Tuesday's primary, with five stops on Friday ahead of an evening rally.
"This is it. Stop to stop. Person to person. Town to town. Small business to small business," Sununu told Fox News, as he spoke in his hometown of Newfields. "This is it. This is how we’re successful in New Hampshire year after year."
Haley emphasized that "it’s touching every hand. It’s making sure we get out there… We’re going to hit every single place we can. This is about making sure people know they have a choice. This is our chance. Don’t complain about what happens in a general election if you don’t play in this primary."
And pointing to a warmer and favorable weather forecast for primary day, Haley said, "I think we will have a good turnout. It looks like it’s going to be 40 degrees and sunny. That’s what we want to see... We’re going to have a really good turnout in New Hampshire. So we feel good about it."
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