The DeSantis and Haley camps each believed they would benefit if the other left the field and created an unambiguous one-on-one race with Trump.
In fact, both the Trump and DeSantis campaigns believe that more of the Florida governor’s supporters will likely pick Trump.
Any gain or loss for Haley among voters from DeSantis’ decision seems likely to affect the race only marginally, many GOP observers believe.
Even at that point in the 2016 race, Trump had won only a cumulative 40% of the votes cast in the GOP primaries.
His theory that he could peel away a meaningful number of previous Trump voters simply proved wrong.
Persons:
New Hampshire CNN —, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Donald Trump, DeSantis, Haley, Trump, Joe Biden, Haley doesn’t, Biden, winnowing, Whit Ayres, ” Ayres, Texas Sen, Ted Cruz, George Conway, “ Trump, David Kochel, “, he’s, –, Trump’s, ”, Alex Stroman, Trump’s MAGA, MAGA, CNN DeSantis, “ DeSantis, Scott Reed, Bob Dole’s, John Connally, suburbanites, Vivek Ramaswamy, Donald Trump’s, ” Stroman, Jean Carroll, Mike Murphy, – Haley, Sen, Marco Rubio, she’s, Mike Dennehy, John McCain’s, Bill Kristol, Kristol, ” Kristol, Matt Gaetz, Ginger Heald, Ayres, Grover Cleveland, Republican Benjamin Harrison, Reed, Dole, Mike Pence, Pence, ” Reed, “ He’s
Organizations:
New Hampshire CNN, Florida Gov, GOP, South Carolina Gov, Republican, Trump, CNN, New Hampshire, Democratic, South, University of New Hampshire, Republicans, Texas, nonurban Whites, The, South Carolina Republican Party, Edison Research, Trump Trump, Biden, New Hampshire GOP, Florida Republican, Merrimack Republican, Committee, DeSantis
Locations:
Manchester, New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, New, Iowa, DeSantis, As, Hampshire, New York, Trump, The Florida, Trump’s, Texas, Charleston, Polk County, Trump’s Manchester , New Hampshire, Ukraine, Israel, ”