Trafalgar pollster urges Haley to drop out before SC primary to save political future

Trafalgar pollster and founder Robert Cahaly on Monday suggested that former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley should drop out ahead of the South Carolina Republican primary next month, contending that the loss of her home state could spell the end of her political career.

Appearing on the "Just the News, No Noise" television show, Cahaly revealed that his final survey prior to Tuesday's New Hampshire primary showed former President Donald Trump with a more than 22-point lead over Haley in the Granite State. He suggested that the prospect of the party rallying around Trump and her potential defeat in South Carolina next month ought to make reconsider her presidential ambitions this cycle.

"Now, whether that makes Nicki get out, I don't know, because she raised so much money, and she's on the ballot and all these other states, and she's already bought ads," he said. "Now, should she get out? Yeah, I think, for her own sake of, you know, losing your home state is the thing political obituaries are made of, and I just don't see how she has viability if she gets beat this, you know, in her own state, and certainly gets beat bad."

"So I would think for our future, she should probably get out. But will she? I don't know. And, and will her donors give up? I mean, some of her donors are also supporting some of the prosecutions against Trump, so maybe not," he added.

Cahaly attributed the former president's lead in part to supporters of Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis rallying behind him and would-be independent backers of Haley losing confidence she could pull off an upset.

"I think indicates a couple of things. One, there, the DeSantis people have consolidated for the most part behind Trump. Two, there has been a significant effort to get those people who are independents who lean Democrat, to participate in the Democratic primary and write in Joe Biden," he said. "And I think, once Haley didn't look viable, she's losing a lot of people to that. We're finding less people who were identified as Democrats before who would become independent, who say they're participating. So I would credit to that, and just the momentum that has come from what's been happening in the last few days."

Cahaly's remarks came ahead of Trump rally in Laconia, N.H., in which several of his former Republican rivals are expected to appear in a show of unity behind the party frontrunner.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.