Indian American Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has emerged a runner-up to former President Trump in a recent New Hampshire poll.
Haley, the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet as US Ambassador to UN under Trump, saw double-digit gains in support since August, according to the poll, conducted by Emerson College Polling.
Trump held his lead from previous polls, earning 49% of the support. Haley jumped ahead of several other candidates, increasing her lead from 4% in August to 18% in the November poll, The Hill reported.
Fellow Indian American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy increased his lead slightly, up to 5% from 3% in the previous poll.
Former New Jersey Gov Chris Christie’s support remained the same at 9%, while Florida Gov Ron DeSantis saw a decrease in support, earning 7 in the recent poll.
As many as 9% of New Hampshire respondents said they would vote for someone else or are undecided about for whom they would vote for in the Republican primary.
Emerson College Polling Executive Director Spencer Kimball said voters with college and postgraduate degrees were increasingly more likely to support Haley, even though Trump still earned the most support.
“Trump leads among non-college educated with 57% to 12% for Haley, but among college-educated GOP voters Trump leads 35% to 27%, and among those with postgraduate degrees Trump leads 29% to 26% over Haley,” Kimball’s statement said.
Kimball noted that Haley earned support from older voters rather than people younger than 40.
“While Trump leads across all age groups, Haley gets 21% of the vote from voters over 40 while getting about 8% from voters under 40,” Kimball’s statement said.
Haley still came in second place, behind DeSantis, when respondents were asked to rank their second-choice candidate. About 22% of voters chose DeSantis as their second choice, while 18% chose Haley and 15% said Ramaswamy was their runner-up candidate.
The polling is reflected elsewhere, too, The Hill noted. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found Haley earning support against Trump in several key swing states.
In a hypothetical 2024 match-up, Trump beat President Joe Biden in five out of six states, while Haley beat Biden in all six.
Haley recently dismissed Trump’s lead in national polls, arguing that people are “getting tired” of the “drama and chaos” that follows the former president.
The Emerson College survey was conducted Nov 10-13 among 917 New Hampshire voters registered in the Republican primary. The survey has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.