Haley has been more aggressive against Trump. How will it play in SC ahead of GOP primary

As the GOP field narrowed, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has called the former President Donald Trump a grumpy old man. She has repeatedly said chaos follows Trump wherever he goes.

And she has magnified her criticism that the national debt went up under Trump.

Her more aggressive tone and criticism against the former president had been called for by the anti-Trump forces in the party. But it comes as Trump maintains a large lead in the polls for the Republican nomination and many in the party want to coalesce around the former president.

Haley now has the one-on-one matchup she desired against Trump and it gives her the opportunity to make more pointed attacks against the former president and give reasons to voters not to support him.

It’s a posture former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wanted other GOP candidates to do earlier in the primary process as he and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson were the most aggressive against the former president.

But she says now that she’s the final remaining major challenger to Trump in the race, she can focus on him.

“If I focused on Donald Trump in the beginning, I would have ended up like Chris Christie,” Haley said.

“The goal was to take out the fellas one at a time. Now it’s a head to head. That’s why you see me going against him,” Haley said in a brief interview with The State. “In New Hampshire, we moved 25 points in three weeks. It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. We’ll finish on Feb. 24. Our goal is to make sure that we just tighten that up.”

Haley faces a challenge of trying to convince voters in her home state where she and Trump have high favorable ratings, and the former president is leading in the polls.

Warren Tompkins, a South Carolina political consultant who worked on Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 campaign, said the direct criticisms may work in some areas of the state, but not in others.

“It’s a delicate balance, a fine line to walk,” Tompkins said. “You’re the alternative to Donald Trump. You need to give people a reason to show up and support you for the fact you’re not Trump. You want somebody other than Trump, you’ve got a clear choice, because there’s only two people in the race.”

Who can be persuaded by attacks on Trump?

Those that support the former president most likely won’t be swayed by those who believe that Trump is unfit for office.

But an aggressive tone against Trump may help motivate those self-described independent voters who don’t want the former president back in the White House to vote in the Republican primary.

In the last week, Haley has called Trump unhinged. While speaking on Meet the Press about the $83.3 million judgment for author E. Jean Carroll and against Trump, Haley said voters should decide whether the judgment should be disqualifying.

“I absolutely trust the jury,” Haley said. “And I think that they made their decision based on the evidence. I just don’t think that should take him off the ballot. I think the American people will take him off the ballot. I think that’s the best way to go forward is not to let him play the victim. Let him play the loser.”

But she also has been questioning whether Trump can focus on being president.

“They see that he’s completely distracted. They see that he’s going on these rants about how he’s the victim. And I think that’s exactly what we don’t need a strong leader to be,” Haley said on Meet the Press. “So these court cases are going to keep happening. One by one we’re going to keep seeing him in a courtroom and we’re going to see him come out and do a press conference. That’s not what you want a president to be.”

However, the attacks aren’t a one way street.

Trump began taking shots at Haley long before she became the last major challenger standing in his way of the nomination.

Trump began calling Haley “birdbrain” last year. Before the New Hampshire primary, Haley was his main target as she was closest in the polls. After his New Hampshire victory, Trump did not give a traditional victory speech, but instead lobbed more criticisms at his former ambassador to the United Nations.

He went on to criticize Haley’s remarks that same night, which sounded more like a victory speech rather than someone who came in second.

“She’s doing a speech like she won. She didn’t win, she lost,” Trump said. “She ran up and pretended she won Iowa, and I looked around and said, didn’t she come in third, yeah, she came in third.”

“Let’s not have someone take a victory, when she had a very bad night,” he added.

Trump even remarked on the dress Haley wore.

But in a dynamic similar to when Trump ran against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, being forceful against a woman opponent does have some potential drawbacks, especially potentially hurting his support among women.

“When we see Trump attacking her in the ways he was going to, it has the potential to back fire on him with at least some voters,” said Danielle Vinson, a professor of political science and international affairs at Furman University. “I would think suburban voters would have to take a long hard look at how he’s treating this professional woman and go, ‘that’s not OK’ and that’s what happened when she ran (in) the Republican primary for governor the first time. There were all kinds of personal attacks and it worked to her advantage because there were enough people going, that is not acceptable.’”

But the Trump campaign isn’t worried his attacks on Haley will cost him, even among women.

“More women in Iowa and New Hampshire voted for President Trump than for Nikki Haley, and the same will be true in Nikki’s home state of South Carolina,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump Campaign national press secretary. “Women want a leader who tells it like it is and will keep them and their families safe. We don’t want another flip-flopping politician like Nikki Haley who supports open borders, amnesty for illegal aliens and higher taxes.”

Haley spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said most Americans don’t want a Trump-Biden rematch, and attacking Trump directly provides a contrast for voters.

“You can look backward where there is chaos, division and dysfunction, and you it is a stark contrast to what Nikki is presenting, which is a forward looking, focused plan for America with a new generation of leadership,” Perez-Cubas said. “Her message is we’ve got a lot of serious problems. We’ve got the border, education, the economy, two wars abroad. We need someone who is strong, we need someone who is focused. I think that contrast is and will continue to resonate with voters.”

Those who will potentially support Haley want to see the former ambassador to the United Nations be more aggressive on Trump.

Earl Rigler, 74, of Mount Pleasant, is a retired attorney who moved to South Carolina from Pennsylvania about 15 years ago.

Rigler, an independent, attended Haley’s recent North Charleston rally and is hoping Trump isn’t reelected this year and wants to see Haley be more aggressive against the former president.

“You see how hard he pushes against other candidates, and the name calling and the derogatory comments,” Rigler said. “He made a comment (Jan. 23) about her dress and that type of thing. It’s not presidential. That’s not somebody who deserves to be in the White House.”

Trump has a polling lead over Haley in GOP race

Both Trump and Haley have high favorable ratings in South Carolina. According to a Washington Post-Monmouth University Poll released Thursday, among Republican primary voters, Trump has a 66% favorability rating. Haley has a 45% favorability rating.

The same poll had Trump leading Haley 58% to 32% in South Carolina.

Ultimately, Haley needs to give a reason for voters not to support Trump, and potentially come over to her camp.

Vinson said she thinks Haley let Trump skate for far too long.

“There were ways to raise doubts about Trump and potentially cut into his support without even attacking him personally,” Vinson said.

Attacks on Trump won’t sway anyone already locked into voting for Trump, said Chip Felkel, a South Carolina political consultant who worked on Bush presidential campaigns. Still candidates need to give strong reason to be the alternative to the front runner, especially the few who may be willing to switch from Trump. A CNN poll in October found only roughly one-in-five of Trump voters were still persuadable.

South Carolina also does not have voter registration by party, so people can choose which presidential primary they want to vote in. However, the state votes predominantly Republican.

“In any race whatsoever, when you are challenging a real incumbent or a pseudo incumbent which is how Trump has been portrayed, you have to make the incumbent unacceptable and offer an acceptable alternative,” Felkel said. “There’s no way to change the mind of committed Trump voters, but there is a way to tap into independents and disaffected Republicans, and I think there’s a lot more independents in South Carolina right now because both parties have their issues.”

Trump is seen as the front runner for the nomination and much of the Republican Party is rallying around him hoping for a quick end to contested primaries to allow the former president to focus on the general election. Any GOP attacks on Trump could hurt the former president in the long run.

“That’s any candidate’s prerogative to decide what message they want to what the issues they’re going to run on,” said state Rep. Jason Elliott, R-Greenville, who is backing Trump. “At this point on time, attacking President Trump in the primary serves only to help Biden, and Republicans, whether they’re in Greenville, South Carolina, in South Carolina, or across the country, are overwhelmingly against doing anything that’s going to help reelect Joe Biden.”