Will Haley’s Trump Endorsement Encourage Her Supporters To Follow Suit?

Former presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Wednesday she will vote for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, even though she had previously called him both unhinged and unqualified for office.

“I feel no need to kiss the ring,” Haley said in February before suspending her primary campaign. “My political future is of no concern.” Her tune has now changed, as the lines of one-time Trump rivals so often do.

When Haley suspended her campaign in March, she said she will always support the GOP nominee but warned against following the crowd. She also said that it was up to Trump to earn the votes of those Republicans and independents who did not support him.

“I hope he does that. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away,” Haley said during her campaign suspension speech. “And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing."

There are many anti-Trumpers who have continued to show their support for Haley as an alternative to Trump even in the months since she dropped out of the primary race. Earlier this week in Kentucky, Haley won 6.4% of the vote while another 3.6% of Republican voters cast a ballot for “uncommitted.” At the beginning of the month, a shocking 22% of Indiana voters threw their support behind Haley. Her support was notable in Maryland and Nebraska, too.

While Indiana was an outlier when it comes to Haley’s support in Republican primary races, any percentage of Republicans not supporting Trump should cause concern for his campaign. He leads President Joe Biden by a thin margin of 0.9 points, according to the RCP Average. Trump must hope that Haley’s endorsement will encourage her supporters to follow suit.

The Biden campaign, which is dealing with its own struggles as many vote "uncommitted" in Democratic primaries, is seemingly unfazed by Haley’s announcement. 

"Nothing has changed for the millions of Republican voters who continue to cast their ballots against Donald Trump in the primaries and care deeply about the future of our democracy, standing strong with our allies against foreign adversaries, and working across the aisle to get things done for the American people — while also rejecting the chaos, division and violence that Donald Trump embodies," said Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler.