Haley could overtake Trump in New Hampshire after Christie’s ‘game changer’ exit

NIKKI Haley could overtake Donald Trump in the New Hampshire primary following Chris Christie’s “game changer” exit from the race.

The former South Carolina governor is closing on Mr Trump in the second primary, trailing by around seven points in polls taken before Mr Christie dropped out on Wednesday, declaring he could not “see a path” to the White House.

If Ms Haley was to absorb all of Mr Christie’s votes, which experts said was likely, her campaign could jump 12 points, putting her ahead of Mr Trump.

Republicans called Mr Christie’s decision a “game changer” that could hinder Mr Trump’s ability to “run a campaign of attrition”.

However, Mr Christie himself was caught out at the event where he announced the end of his campaign telling allies Ms Haley was going to “get smoked” by Mr Trump in the primary.

“She’s not up to this,” he said during a private conversation that appeared to be inadvertently broadcast online, before being deleted, ahead of his town hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

On Wednesday night, Ms Haley and Ron Desantis engaged in a televised debate from Iowa, which will caucus for its preferred Republican nominee on Monday.

The pair exchanged barbs at the event in Des Moines, where she said Mr Desantis had wasted the estimated $150 million (£117.5 million) he spent on his campaign.

The Florida governor hit back, arguing her presidency would be no different to a second term by Joe Biden.

“We don’t need a candidate who is going to look down on middle America. We’ve had enough of that,” he said, adding that she had “got this problem with ballistic podiatry…shooting herself in the foot.”

Mr Desantis had hoped to revive his ailing campaign in Iowa, which is traditionally a socially conservative state, but appears not to have overtaken Mr Trump’s lead of more than 20 points in local polls.

The exit of Mr Christie from the race makes it probable that Ms Haley will become the rallying candidate for Republicans who oppose Mr Trump.

Eric Levine, a fundraiser for Ms Haley’s campaign in New York, said he believed Mr Desantis would “drop out of the primary after the Iowa caucus”, leaving Ms Haley a clear run against the former president. “I think she has a legitimate shot at winning New Hampshire, and with that momentum, I think she can win South Carolina,” he said.

Ms Haley told voters on Thursday she was the only candidate who could beat Mr Biden by a large enough margin to secure a significant mandate for change in Washington.

If you go into DC with a double-digit win, that’s a mandate to stop the wasteful spending and get our economy back on track,” she said.

Mr Trump did not attend the debate.