Trump and Biden are getting nervous - in the end, a woman will become president
Outsider Nikki Haley is on a spectacular upswing. Unexpectedly, the US election campaign is no longer a gloomy old man's duel. Haley is not only rising in the polls - the US business elite are also donating millions.
Her poll ratings are not just rising, they are jumping upwards. According to a new poll by the Wall Street Journal, the former US ambassador to the United Nations would beat US President Joe Biden in a direct duel by 51 to 34 percent. Nikki Haley started out as a clear outsider, but then won four Republican TV candidate debates in a row. Since this week, she has overtaken her fiercest rival Ron DeSantis in the polls. Suddenly she is the only serious challenger to the two old top dogs Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Haley is getting a tailwind from all sides and has "momentum", as political strategists call it. She has visibly scored two tactical successes. Firstly, she is being celebrated and hyped in many media outlets that are tired of the old man duel between Biden and Trump. There are rows of positive portraits and interviews, the TV picture selection is friendly, the editorials benevolent. On the other hand, she is suddenly receiving huge donations. Haley has attracted a number of business giants to her side. From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, she is seen in business circles as the new and last hope for preventing Trump. The CEO of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, has publicly called on the business elite to "Help Nikki Haley".
More and more moneyed celebrities are following the call, such as billionaire Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, who has so far tended to donate money to Democrats. Jan Koum, the co-founder of WhatsApp, Home Depot billionaire Ken Langone and venture capitalist Tim Draper (Baidu, Tesal, Skype, Bitcoin) are now also giving money to Haley. The most headline-grabbing endorsement, however, comes from Charles Koch and his super PAC (Political Action Committee) "Americans for Prosperity Action". The conservative billionaire was one of the most important financiers of Trump's previous election campaigns. Now he is following the call for a political change in favor of Haley: "Turn the page". And this just a few weeks before the first primary in Iowa. For Republicans, Koch's announcement looks like a call to end the Trump era.
The woman of the hour
In addition to the two tactical points, Haley also holds four strategic trump cards: firstly, the fascination that she could be the first woman in the White House. Many Americans feel that it is long overdue for a female president to finally lead the country. Secondly, in a polarized America, Nikki Haley is a longing candidate of the balancing middle ground. Although she is a seasoned and sharp-tongued Republican, she receives support from both political camps. Thirdly, Haley represents an overdue generational change. Born in 1972, she is three decades younger than her opponents Biden and Trump. Fourthly, she would also be the first female president from a direct immigrant family and a reconciler on identity issues. Haley, who is of Indian descent, describes herself as "not black, not white". As governor of South Carolina, she had the controversial Confederate flag from the Civil War era taken down from the Capitol in Charleston, thereby removing a political symbol of racial segregation.
In short: Nikki Haley is the woman of the hour who could actually blow up the gloomy old man's re-election campaign between Biden and Trump. She is still far behind Trump in the polls among Republican voters. But her momentum could visibly change the mood. If she finishes a clear second behind Trump in the first Republican primary in Iowa on January 15 and other rivals then concede, she has a chance of catching up with Trump in the liberal state of New Hampshire on January 23. The fifth Republican primary will take place at the end of February in her home state of South Carolina - where, if the drop-out votes rally behind her, Haley's "break-away moment" could come when she beats the seemingly overpowering Trump.
The story of her outsider rise appeals to Americans, as does her quick-witted self-confidence as she confronts arrogant men. Many compare her to former British Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher - because she represents liberal economic and foreign policy positions - and call her the "Iron Lady of the USA". But that is only half true. Because she draws her greatest energy from the growing longing for a new center, for reconciliation, for a bridge builder and a modern face of the younger generation. When she is asked by nine-year-old Hannah Kesselring at a campaign event in New Hampshire: "Why, Mrs. Haley, should you be president?", she answers with a view to the toxic trench warfare between Trump and Biden, between Republicans and Democrats, between blacks and whites, between the metropolises and the country: "I am a mother. I don't want my children to grow up like this. I don't feel comfortable with the way the country is and that my children have to deal with it." She thus introduces the balancing role of mother into the election campaign. In this respect, too, she is the polar opposite of Donald Trump.
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Nikki Haley's rise in the polls and the support she's receiving from the US business elite has put her in a strong position for the US presidential election 2024. According to a new poll, Haley would beat President Joe Biden in a direct duel, with a 51-34% margin. This shift in the election dynamics has both Donald Trump and Joe Biden feeling nervous, as Nikki Haley is now a serious challenger, not just among Republicans, but also among the balancing middle ground of American voters.
Source: www.ntv.de
