Haley touts rise in polls ahead of Iowa: ‘I defeat Biden’

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley argued that polling between her and President Biden proved she was the most formidable GOP opponent, saying Thursday, “I defeat Biden.” 

“I think that what you’re seeing is we’ve got momentum. We’ve got momentum in Iowa, we’ve got momentum in New Hampshire, you’re gonna continue to see us be strong in South Carolina,” she said during a CNN town hall in Des Moines, Iowa, when she was asked what her strategy was to overtake Trump in the polls. 

Haley argued later the country didn’t “want another nail-biter of an election” and said polls showed her performing better in a head-to-head match-up with Biden than either Trump or fellow GOP candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“That’s what we’ll get. Look at any of the polls head-to-head against Joe Biden. Ron doesn’t beat Biden. Trump head-to-head — on a good day he might be up by 2. The Wall Street Journal had him up by 4. I’m in every one of those same polls,” she said. “I defeat Biden by 17 points. Seventeen points. That makes it bigger than the presidency. That’s governorships. That’s House. That’s Senate.”

Haley was referring to a Wall Street Journal poll conducted between late November and early December, which showed Haley beating Biden by 17 points, 51 percent and 34 percent, in a hypothetical general election match-up. 

The poll found a match-up between DeSantis and Biden would show both receiving 45 percent each, while a hypothetical match-up between Biden and Trump shows the former president leading 47 percent to 43 percent.  

Though Haley has seen some momentum in New Hampshire polling, Trump has still maintained leads ahead of both DeSantis and Haley in both early state polling and national polling.