Nikki Haley wants to be ‘stronger’ in New Hampshire GOP primary after third-place finish in Iowa

EPPING, New Hampshire — Presidential candidate Nikki Haley wouldn’t predict an upset over rival Donald Trump in New Hampshire days before the Tuesday primary, bit said she’s hoping to be “stronger” than she was in Iowa.

“In Iowa I wanted to be strong. We did that. We started at 2%, we ended at 20%,” Haley told The Post during a campaign stop Sunday afternoon.

“In New Hampshire, I want to be even stronger than that, and in South Carolina I want to be even stronger than that,” the former UN ambassador added.

“We’ll find out what ‘strong’ and ‘stronger’ is on Election Day, but that’s the goal. That’s always been the goal.”

Haley is averaging 15 points behind Trump in the Granite State, 50.3% to 35.3%, per RealClearPolitics.

The margin is the closest a candidate has gotten to the former president in months, but could be affected by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropping out of the race on Sunday shortly after Haley’s remarks.

Haley’s campaign has long maintained that the fight for 2024 has been a “two person” race between her and Trump, even after she got third place in Iowa. Her camp has also stressed that she will succeed with enough “momentum” built up over several of the early states.

But her comments on Sunday seem to lower expectations put forth by her top backer in New Hampshire.

On Jan. 3, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu was confident she could come in first place in the primary, even beating out Trump. In recent days, Sununu has also backtracked.

“She doesn’t have to win. I mean, nobody goes from single digits in December to you absolutely have to win in January,” the New Hampshire governor told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

The key to the nomination is still beating Trump by winning over voters, Sununu told reporters at Haley’s Epping stop.

“If you’re waiting for legal troubles or something external to take down Donald Trump, that’s not going to happen,” he said. “You beat him in the ballot box, that’s democracy. The voters have to decide to move on, and they’re going to. More and more are getting on the team with Nikki Haley every single day.”

Haley has had steady momentum in New Hampshire in recent months as she has prioritized the independent-heavy state with her messaging and frequent campaign stops.

Her audience numbers seem to be growing, as she’s filling auditoriums and other venues across the state. But the number of attendees still pales in comparison with Trump’s mega rallies, like an event he held on Saturday night.

Some Haley supporters are hopeful she will have the numbers to defeat Trump on Tuesday.

Carole Alfano, a Haley voter from Exeter, New Hampshire, said she thinks the former South Carolina governor has a shot due to the “number of undeclared voters that can take a Republican ballot.”

“She definitely has a chance,” Alfano told The Post.

Nevada is the next state to vote after New Hampshire, holding both a primary and a caucus days apart. Haley is the only top candidate left in the race who registered for the primary, and will not be facing Trump in the caucus, meaning she is not eligible for delegates.

Haley defended her decision to participate in the primary during her campaign stop in Epping.

“Talk to the people in Nevada: They will tell you the caucuses have been sealed up, bought and paid for a long time,” she told reporters. “And so that’s why we got into the primary, but we know that’s kind of — I mean the caucus is what it is — and these are people who are involved in it, who tried to stop it, but that’s the Trump train rolling through that, but we’re going to focus on the states that are fair.”

In Haley’s home state of South Carolina, Trump is averaging at 50.0% compared to her 21.8%, per RCP. The former president has also received significntly more endorsements in the first-in-the-south state.

Trump blasted her lack of support on her home turf during his campaign rally on Saturday by bringing high-rpofile backers to the stage, including South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster.

At the Epping campaign stop, Haley said she doesn’t “want” endorsements from South Carolina legislators because she fought against them when she was governor.

“I pushed back on them when I was governor. I forced them to show their votes on the record, that they weren’t hiding by voice votes. I forced them to pass ethics reform that they didn’t want to do,” Haley argued.