The GOP (Grand Old Party) primaries are in full swing and started on January 15, 2024, at the Iowa Caucuses. The candidates for this year’s primaries are Nikki Haley and Donald Trump. By the end of the primaries, one of these candidates will be the Republican nominee for the 2024 Presidential Election.
Donald Trump is the leading candidate in the polls. He was the former president from 2017 to 2021 until he lost the 2021 Presidential Election to current President Joe Biden. That race was so close that a few of the states had recounts of the votes to double check that all votes were accounted for. Nikki Haley is the former South Carolina Governor and the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations. President Trump has been in the lead in the polls for a long time, but he also has a lot of controversy.
As of February 14th, 2024, Donald Trump currently has four federal court cases. The first one is for federal election interference. This was when he urged state officials to undermine the results in the states that President Biden won in the 2021 P.E. There is one in Georgia where President Trump called the Georgia Secretary of State to find 11,780 votes which is the number he needed to win. Another is the classified documents case. This was for when (allegedly) President Trump took documents when he left the White House and were found in his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Finally, a hush-money case, where Trump allegedly paid an adult film actress to be quiet.
There was also a non-federal case, where Trump allegedly started the January 6th insurrection. These could hurt him in the election. One lady on CNBC who supports Trump said “It’s all crap, and I don’t believe any of it is true.” While an anonymous person said “I think that this a big challenge for Donald Trump, and I think I wouldn’t want a person convicted to be president.” So a mixed people and everyone has their one view which makes it hard to find a definitive answer.
Nikki Haley on the other hand is a candidate who has a lot less controversy behind her, and she has had a very strong campaign so far. Nikki Haley is a conservative, Asian American who would be the first woman president elected. She views China as her biggest adversary, and she seems to not be backing down even though she is pressured to end her campaign especially after she lost the Nevada primary.
The race currently seems one-sided with Trump leading 32 delegates to Haley’s 17 after 2 primaries. There is still plenty of time for a comeback so anything could happen only time will tell.