Undeterred by trailing in polls, Nikki Haley says numbers will improve as 2024 race heats up

Republican Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley knows she's trailing in the 2024 presidential polls.

But she indicated that the numbers did not deter her during a rally Thursday night at downtown Greer's Cannon Centre.

"I will tell you fact the polls you see today are not going to be the polls you see tomorrow or next year," Haley said near the end of her one-hour speech. The former SC Gov. and UN Ambassador spoke to a crowd of 600 attendees.

Much like her other campaign speeches, Haley recounted her run for the SC House of Representatives two decades ago and how she has always been an underdog. She said she polled at 3% when she ran to unseat longtime incumbent Larry Koon in 2004.

Once elected, Haley pushed for major legislation related to making voting records public. She was a freshman leader in her first year, a Majority Whip and a member of influential committees in the following years.

Then in 2017, she was appointed the U.N. Ambassador by the Trump administration. She led efforts to impose sanctions on North Korea and move Israel’s capital to Jerusalem.

“We took the kick me sign off our backs and we made them respect (America) again,” Haley said.

SC operatives: Nikki Haley, Tim Scott could be formidable. Will they get a big boost at home?

Haley continues to talk term limits, competency tests for politicians

Haley reiterated the need for term limits and competency tests for politicians over the age of 75 as a veiled jab towards President Joe Biden, who would be the oldest U.S. President if he were to win his 2024 run.

But she maintained the ask for term limits was not a partisan issue. Though she did not directly challenge Trump, she said the Republican Party needed to evolve with a new generation of leaders.

"When we send people to D.C., we need them to be on the top of their game,” Haley said. "We've got a country to save and we can't afford to not be the strongest we could possibly be."

S.C. Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Richland, who grew up in the Upstate, spoke in support of Haley Thursday. Ballentine and Haley joined the Statehouse together two decades ago. He credited Haley for making the state a manufacturing hub that gave her the moniker “beast of the southeast.”

“A new face in politics,” Ballentine said. “She’s what the Republican Party needed.”

Ted and Teresa Sillstrop, a couple attending the event, said Haley was an admirable governor and ambassador.

“She would be very good for our nation,” Teresa Sillstrop said.

The couple said Haley's experience sets her apart from other GOP candidates.

“She’s very decisive, she's tough and she’s got a lot of energy,” the Sillstrops said. “She’s got backbone”

Other than Haley, Sillstrop said he was excited to see U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. They were out of town when Ramaswamy was in the Upstate.

Sillstrop said it was important to get a Republican back in the White House because the Biden administration was accelerating spending. “We would have more respect in the world,” he said.

But the current poll numbers, where Haley trailed behind Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did not bode well for Haley.

“She’s way behind,” Ted Sillstrop said.

SC Republicans, analysts: It's still Donald Trump's GOP but Nikki Haley could be formidable

Haley steered clear of abortion debate but called transgender issues the most important woman's rights issue right now

Haley said culture war issues, such as critical race theory and transgender rights, dominate the national conversation. She took a shot at transgender social media personality, Dylan Mulvaney, who drew the ire of anti-transgender consumers after Anheuser-Busch-owned Bud Light partnered with Mulvaney during March Madness.

"Make no mistake that is a guy," Haley said denying Mulvaney’s identity as a woman.

"This is the women's rights issue of our time," she continued.

Haley joins a host of current or probable Republican candidates such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who have platformed anti-transgender rhetoric. But unlike last week, she steered clear from the debate surrounding abortion issues.

Haley, who was governor in 2016 when she signed a 20-week abortion ban, said in an April 25, 2023, Susan B. Anthony List event that she intended to be a "consensus" builder on the issue.

She brought up Charleston's 2015 Mother Emanuel Church massacre, where nine Black churchgoers, including late S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney, were murdered by a white supremacist. She said that the ensuing push to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds was polarizing.

"We found consensus on a very tough issue,” Haley said in an April 25, 2023 event. “What was true then with the flag can be true now with abortion. This shouldn’t be about one movement winning and another one losing. It’s about saving babies and supporting moms. I’m fighting for all of them, and I will work with anyone to do that.”

Though Haley has not explicitly outlined a plan to resolve the debate, she said the federal government will play an influential role. But the Hill reported Haley assured the anti-abortion group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, she would set national consensus at 15 weeks.

Haley: Fire 87,000 IRS agents and hire 25,000 border patrol agents

Haley focused heavily on foreign and immigration policy. Referencing her tour to the border, Haley drew comparison between her and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also of Indian origin.

"I can tell you I didn't pull a Kamala and go there and come back," Haley said. "I went 400 miles of that border."

She rebuked the Biden administration's policies, which she said left the U.S. in a place where its allies didn’t trust it and its enemies didn’t fear it. "We will fire the 87,000 IRS agents and hire 25,000 border patrol agents," she said. Instead of U.S. policy catch and release, she said, agents would "catch and deport."

She said the U.S. needed to be aggressive about who supported in its foreign policy decisions and military aid.

One attendee from the crowd hollered. "We don’t want World War III though.”

SC Democrats say Nikki Haley 'scrambling' to compete in GOP race for White House

South Carolina Democratic Party spokesperson Alyssa Bradley said Thursday that Haley was scrambling to compete with the growing GOP field on who can propose the most MAGA agenda.

"Since her last visit to the Palmetto State, Nikki Haley’s desperation for the MAGA base reached new lows as she tripled down on her anti-abortion record — endorsing a national abortion ban and outright bragging about signing an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest."

According to a recent Winthrop Poll, Trump leads the current GOP field with 41% support, followed by DeSantis and Haley with 20% and 18% respectively.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, who is likely to announce his presidential run on May 22, is another candidate from the state competing for attention.

Political experts in the Upstate have said Haley or Scott would make excellent vice president choices if they are unable to overcome their GOP competitors in the primaries. They have also maintained that Haley continues to be underestimated.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Nikki Haley said low polling numbers will change as 2024 race goes on