WAUKEE, Iowa — Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley appears to be exercising caution on the campaign trail during the final days before the 2024 Republican primary‘s opening nominating contest in Iowa.
As Haley ticks up in the polls, she has come under increasing pressure amid escalated criticism from former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), with the typically disciplined messenger now attempting to recover from multiple missteps in recent days.
Haley’s campaign events have become shorter before the Jan. 15 caucuses, and some, such as a 15-minute speech in Waukee on Tuesday, have ended without her taking questions from the crowd. DeSantis criticized her for the change on Tuesday, saying that Haley “can’t handle the scrutiny.”
“The minute it would be her vs. a Democrat, it’s all going to be against her,” he said. “Republican voters know that and I think she’s shown she just can’t handle the scrutiny and can’t defend her record. That’s why she rarely answers questions. I guess she’s not even answering voters’ questions anymore.”
The shift in Haley’s event format comes before her first one-on-one debate with DeSantis on Wednesday and after she failed to mention slavery when she was asked by a voter in New Hampshire what she considered started the Civil War.
Trump and DeSantis, even President Joe Biden, have excoriated Haley for the comment, with the extra scrutiny either uncovering or giving rise to other mistakes, from telling New Hampshire voters they would have to “correct” the outcome of Iowa’s caucuses to confusing CNN’s Kaitlan Collins with Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball player Caitlin Clark.
“After receiving kid glove treatment the entire race, Nikki Haley is finally being exposed for being a phony politician who continuously caves on key issues and cannot handle the scrutiny of primetime,” DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo said. “While the pressure mounts on Nikki Haley and the Wall Street donors bankrolling her to buy the strong second-place finish in Iowa that her top surrogate is predicting, her closing argument is insulting Iowans by saying their votes will need to be corrected.”
Meanwhile, Trump has condemned Haley’s policy positions and record regarding taxes, immigration, and China, and chided her for even launching a presidential run when she said in 2021 she wouldn’t challenge the former president.
“Nikki Haley will lose because she’s an agent of the establishment willing to sell out Americans,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said. “The establishment, anti-America First class has turned their hopes to Haley to be the savior of their open borders, pro-tax agenda.”
After a Trump event in Keokuk last week, Kristie Jacobe, 45, was not concerned about Haley’s Civil War statements, although she was curious whether they would undermine the former South Carolina governor’s general election argument as she appeals to moderates and independents.
“It does make a difference, the comment that she made between them and us,” the St. Charles small business owner said of Haley’s New Hampshire remark. “I think everybody matters, and I think she’s slipping a lot in the things she’s saying, which, to me, is a trust factor.”
“If it is a genuine mistake, then she’s not used to the pressure of the media, of being in front of those kind of people all the time,” she added. “Maybe she’s just not ready, at that stage yet.”
Haley’s campaign disagreed, contending “everyone,” from Trump to Biden, were attacking her because she is the only candidate with momentum in the race.
“It’s clear this has become a two-person race between Nikki and Trump,” Haley’s press secretary Olivia Perez-Cubas said. “Voters have a clear choice — the drama and chaos of the past, or a new generation of conservative leadership.”
Sean Lynch, a DeSantis supporter, was also unconcerned by Haley’s mistakes, describing them as “microscopic” after an event for the governor last week in Cumming. Regardless, the Norwalk retired cop, 61, called Haley “a machine politician,” though he conceded “she has a lot of good things to say.”
“Maybe here she might be [under pressure], but the next day she may not be. It’s all very relative,” he said. “It’s like you’re in one restaurant, and then you change to another restaurant and the food’s different. This is a rural area and a lot of folks may[be] are putting some pressure on her that she may not feel in the next place.”
That same day in urban and more liberal Des Moines, two Rotary Club members, who declined to be named for this story, expressed their support for Haley after she spoke to them during a breakfast meeting where she took questions from the audience.
“I’ve been a Republican Party member since 1981 and I voted for Joe Biden [in 2020],” the first man said. “I still vote Republican largely, but I vote on the basis of capability, and accountability, and on personality, and I see our Republican Party [frontrunner] behaving in a manner that is not civil, more so than other candidates, so I select on a candidate by candidate basis.”
“If Haley does not get the nomination, I’ll likely vote for Biden,” he continued. “I think she’s stronger than all the other candidates, including the one that I’ll vote for if she doesn’t get the nomination.”
Marty, the second Rotary Club member, who agreed to be identified by his first name, is backing Haley because there is “no way” he could “ever support Trump” and he has “no respect for him,” while joking about her mistakes.
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“We’re just in this quagmire of old men and we need to look toward the future,” Marty said. “I have kids. I wouldn’t have let my daughter in the room with the guy.”
“Who doesn’t screw up every day?” he continued. “I get some things right, I get other things wrong, but can you trust her? The Civil War’s the past. This is the future.”