Republican presidential primary going to be 2-person race, says Nikki Haley

Washington: Indian American presidential candidate Nikki Haley said on Sunday that the Republican contest to choose the presidential nominee is going to be a two-person race between her and former president Donald Trump.

Haley's remarks came on the eve of the Iowa caucuses on Monday, that formally kicks off the beginning of the long process by which the Republicans and Democrats choose their nominees for the presidential election.  

Trump, 77, served as the US president from 2017 to 2021 and is seeking his second term.

The former president, a front-runner among the Republican Party candidates, maintains a sizable lead over his nearest rival, Haley, 51, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump Administration.

As per the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, 48 per cent of likely Republican caucus goers pick Trump as their first choice for president — a slight dip from the 51 per cent who said the same in December.

Haley has the support of 20 per cent, an increase of four per cent, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slipped to third place with 16 per cent.

“What you're going to see is this is quickly going to become a two-person race. 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 Sunday.

The former South Carolina governor's popularity rating has increased in the last couple of weeks, with many experts now believing that the Indian American politician is a viable candidate against popular Trump.

“This is going to be definitely an election with two people going into New Hampshire and then into South Carolina. And so we'll take him on. If he chooses not to debate, that's his plan. But we're going to fight this until the very end. We very much see a path,” she said.

The New Hampshire primary is scheduled for January 23, followed by South Carolina on February 3.

“You can tell we have related to people on the ground. This is about a relationship, Brian. It's about people trusting you. It's about a relationship where they know that we will tell them everything,' she said.

'We're going to be incredibly transparent. We're going to make sure that their part of the solution going forward. But more than that, what we've seen from everybody, they don't want a Biden-Trump rematch again,” a confident Haley said in response to a question.

Fellow Indian American presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, though still in the race, has now fallen back, and experts don’t see much hope for the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur during the primary season beginning on January 15.

“What we've seen from everybody (is) they don't want a Biden-Trump rematch again. They want to go in a new direction. They don't want to talk about the old names of the past in Trump and Biden,' Haley said.

'They want to talk about how they're going to go forward. And they're worried about their kids. More than anything, we're hearing people saying that they're worried about their kids and their grandkids and they want to see us go forward,” she said in response to a question.

Meanwhile, in a tele-rally in Iowa, Trump slammed Haley, calling her a globalist.