In a new CNN/SSRS poll, Nikki Haley emerged as the only Republican presidential candidate to beat President Biden in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup by a margin larger than the survey’s margin of error.
Haley leads Biden 49 percent to 43 percent, according to the poll, outside of the 3.5 point margin of error.
Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump holds a razor-thin lead over Biden: 47 percent to 46 percent, while Florida governor Ron DeSantis and the president are tied at 47 percent each.
Vice president Mike Pence and Senator Tim Scott both lead Biden 46 percent to 44 percent, while Chris Christie beats Biden 44 percent to 42 percent.
Vivek Ramaswamy was the only candidate in the poll to be defeated in a hypothetical matchup against Biden, with the president winning 46 percent to 45 percent.
Haley’s strength is due in part to having received broader support among white voters with college degrees: she won the support of 51 percent of that group, while the other Republicans in the poll captured 48 percent or less of that vote.
“Nikki Haley is our best hope in taking back the White House,” Haley campaign spokesperson Ken Farnaso said in a post on X reacting to the poll. “We only have one shot. It’s time to play to win.”
The new poll comes as Haley has had a boost of momentum in the wake of the first GOP debate last month. A Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos effort to track support before and after the debate found that the number of Republican debate watchers who said they are considering supporting her candidacy increased from 29 to 46 percent.
And the campaign reaped the benefits; it says it received more online grassroots donations in the first 24 hours after the debate than in any other single day since Haley entered the race in February. Meanwhile, traffic to Haley’s website had risen tenfold, and she was the second-most Googled candidate following the debate — behind Ramaswamy, who topped Google’s list of trending searches the morning after the debate as the subject of more than a million searches in 24 hours.
A new NMB Research survey obtained by Politico finds Haley tied with DeSantis at 10 percent in the Granite State among potential primary voters. Though it’s worth noting that Haley is at just 3.8 percent in New Hampshire in a RealClearPolitics polling average, compared to DeSantis’s 13.3 percent.
Haley’s growth seems to have attracted attention from the Biden camp. Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz took aim at Haley in comments to Fox News on Wednesday, calling her a “MAGA Republican” with “no real plan” to better the country’s public school systems.
“Nikki Haley’s education ‘platform’ is just a retread of the same extreme policy points the other Republican candidates are echoing, reminding Americans just how out of touch 2024 Republicans are,” Munoz said.
Her plan “isn’t a platform for parents, students, or teachers,” but “an extreme attempt to appease a right-wing, extremist group that cares about banning books in schools instead of keeping out children safe from gun violence,” he said.
“MAGA Republican candidates continue to show they have no real plan to improve our nation’s public schools, address youth mental health, or keep guns out of our schools,” Munoz said. “Our students shouldn’t be used as political pawns — they need real leadership and real solutions from their president.”
“President Biden is that leader,” he concluded.
Haley’s team dismissed Biden’s comments, telling Fox News the president “knows he’s in a world of hurt if Nikki Haley is his opponent.”
“A bold new generation conservative who stands up for parents, children, and taxpayers is Biden and Harris’ worst nightmare,” Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said.
The comments come after a senior Democratic aide close to the Biden campaign reportedly told Politico last month that, “If they nominate Nikki Haley, we’re in trouble.”
Meanwhile, the GOP field is gearing up for the second primary debate, which will take place on September 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.