Donald Trump Blasts 'Garbage' Poll Showing Nikki Haley Close Behind

The credibility of a poll revealing an electoral faceoff between Trump and Haley, in the New Hampshire Republican primary, has been derided by a Trump representative. According to the poll, conducted by American Research Group (ARG) from December 27 to January 3, which involved 600 likely GOP primary voters, Trump holds a mere four-point lead with 37% over Haley, the previous South Carolina governor and ex-U.S. ambassador, who has 33%. Following closely behind, the former New Jersey Governor has attained 10% of the votes, while Ron DeSantis, Florida's Governor, has 5%. These results are within the poll's 4 points margin of error.

Though trailing significantly behind Trump in national polls, Haley remains competitive according to the ARG poll, maintaining momentum since a December poll reported her 4 points behind the ex-President. Yet, the Trump campaign remains unfazed, disregarding the poll as "garbage". Steven Cheung, the spokesperson for Trump, assured that Trump would prevail over Haley, suggesting that any reporter who gains faith in this "rubbish poll" will lose all respect when Trump defies the odds.

Haley's representatives have not yet commented on these assertions. Supporting these findings is a December 17 poll, which claimed Haley was trailing Trump in the state by 15 points (44% to 29%). A national poll released the same month by Rasmussen Reports showed Haley in second place at 13%, an improvement by 4 points from the 9% she attained in a previous Rasmussen poll. However, she is still far behind Trump, who was on top with 50% in November and 51% in December.

Polling by FiveThirtyEight reveals that Haley, with 11.2% of the votes won, is still outclassed by — initially considered Trump's biggest threat but has since lost traction — at 12.1%, and Trump at 61.8%. Furthermore, Haley still lags behind in other states covered by FiveThirtyEight's polling data, being third-best in many states, behind DeSantis. The outcome of the primary elections will determine the GOP's candidate for the 2024 general election. This process kicks off January 15 with the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary on January 23. The last of the primaries will occur in September.