Super Tuesday make or break for Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley has congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the Republican primary in New Hampshire and stated that she would continue to run for the nomination.

The New Hampshire primary is rather important, as it is regarded as something of a barometer of party support within the Republican Party. In the past five presidential elections, whoever secured the Republican nomination in the state eventually became the Republican presidential candidate. Since it was Haley’s home state, with only about 21 percent of its population being evangelicals, it was believed to have been an opportunity to take some of the steam out of Trump’s campaign.

But even with “home advantage” Haley still lost. After New Hampshire, 15 states will simultaneously hold primaries on March 5, “Super Tuesday”. Haley will need to do well if she is to continue.

But she faces an uphill struggle considering Trump has a support rate of 66.1 percent, according to a recent poll.

There are reports suggesting that many Democratic supporters secretly hope Trump wins early in the primaries, too. They believe this would, on the one hand, prevent the

Joe Biden team from being as complacent as it is now and, on the other hand, stimulate Democratic supporters and the neutral forces that dislike Trump to enter “battle mode” early, thus replicating the scene from the 2020 election where they “ambushed” Trump with exceptionally high voter turnout.

On Jan 22, Haley’s campaign manager provided the media with a memorandum outlining the path for Haley’s campaign toward Super Tuesday, which will clearly be the limit for her team to persist if she fails to make a good showing.