IANS | 15 Jan, 2024
Hours before the Iowa caucuses kickstarting the Republican
presidential nomination process, Indian-American presidential aspirant
Nikki Haley has said she is not keen on playing second fiddle to former
boss Donald Trump.
Pushing across ice-cold Iowa and hoping for a
strong finish in the state, the lone woman in the 2024 presidential race
remains confident about her election as the next US President.
“I
don’t play for a second. I’ve never played for a second. I’m not going
to start now. I’m not interested in being Vice President. I’m running to
be President and I’m running to win and we will,” Haley said in a CBS
News interview.
While Trump still leads the Republican pack as the
voters' best bet in November, it is Haley who right now holds a bigger
lead over President Joe Biden than either Trump or Florida Governor Ron
DeSantis in potential head-to-head match-ups, according to a recent
CBS/YouGov poll.
"Republicans need to start winning again. I will
stomp all over Joe Biden in the general election," Haley had said in a
post on X on Sunday.
An Emerson College Polling/WHDH New Hampshire
survey released last week found Haley sitting at 28 per cent in the
state’s presidential primary, up from 18 per cent in November 2023.
Trump,
on the other hand, had 44 per cent support among Republican primary
voters in the state, down from 49 per cent in November last year.
With
the New Hampshire primary scheduled for January 23, and South Carolina
on February 3, the former UN Ambassador said that the Republican
presidential race will be a contest between her and Trump.
“I
think it’s going to be me and Donald Trump going into New Hampshire. And
you’re going to see it’s already close. It’s going to get even closer.
And then we’re going to take it to my state in South Carolina,” Haley
told Fox News in an interview.
On being asked by the CBS what she
would say to voters who like her for vice president but who are still
backing Trump, Haley said: "Well, I think look, if you want four more
years of chaos, that’s what you’re gonna get."
Trump faces 91
felony counts across four trials, including two separate indictments for
alleged election subversion and one for withholding classified
documents after leaving the White House.
While claims of his
executive immunity as President are also under scrutiny, Haley
reiterated that she doesn't want fellow Indian-American Kamala Harris as
President.
“You look at those head to head polls, Trump and Biden
are pretty much even. It’s gonna be a nail biter of an election. We’re
gonna be holding our breath... I don’t want a President Kamala Harris,”
Haley told CBS News.
