Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is not just trailing former President Trump in Nevada. According to a new survey of GOP primary voters, she’s 18 points behind “none of these candidates.”
The poll released by Providence, a joint effort between Revere Solutions and DecipherAi, shows 59.2 percent saying they’ll pick someone else in the Feb. 6 primary compared to 40.8 percent who said they’d back the former South Carolina governor.
“Here’s my conclusion: If Nikki Haley’s going to lose to no one, how can she beat Trump? How can she beat Joe Biden?” Revere Solutions CEO Woodrow Johnston told the Washington Examiner. “This whole narrative that she’s the best candidate against Joe Biden is really just kind of shattered because it’s like she can’t even beat literally no one.”
Nevada’s contest has caused confusion in the state, as Haley will only appear on the primary ballot, whereas Trump has focused on the Feb. 8 caucuses.
The Hill explains why:
The separate votes are a result of years of lobbying by Nevada Democrats to end the state’s 40-year tradition of presidential caucuses. The state Legislature established a primary in 2021 in a bipartisan effort led by Democrats, with the hopes both state parties would ditch their caucuses. […]
But the Nevada Republican Party rejected the change and decided to go forward with the caucuses anyway, keeping with the state’s long-held tradition.
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Despite both candidates competing for votes in Nevada, they will not face each other because Haley is only on the ballot in the primary and Trump is only on the caucus ballot.
The state of Nevada is recognizing only the primary and essentially ignoring the caucuses, but it is not preventing candidates and voters from participating in both. […]
the state Republican Party announced in August it would boycott the primary and not allow candidates to participate in both. If a candidate decided to participate in the primary, they could not compete in the caucuses.
Accordingly, Trump filed for the caucuses and stayed off the primary ballot, while Haley filed for the primary. (The Hill)
Of the two contests, only the Nevada GOP-run caucuses will award delegates, making Haley’s decision to only participate in the primary perplexing. Her campaign has not explained the reason, according to The Hill.