It’s been far from an enthusiastic endorsement, but finally, Nikki Haley has announced that she will be voting for Donald Trump in the November 5 presidential election. Haley, who competed with Trump in the primaries and was defeated by a landslide, resisted asking to vote for the former president when he announced his withdrawal, two and a half months ago. She said Trump had to earn the support of his voters. This Wednesday, at an event held in Washington, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations announced that she will vote for the person who was her rival in the primaries.
“As a voter, my priorities are a president who covers the backs of our allies and holds our enemies accountable, who secures the border, without any more excuses. “A president who would support capitalism and freedom, a president who understands that we need less debt, not more debt,” Haley said this Wednesday at the Hudson Institute, a think tank conservative who joined last month. “Trump has not been perfect in these policies. I have made it clear, many, many times. But Biden has been a catastrophe. So I will vote for Trump,” he added.
The candidate, however, has made it clear that she is not giving the former president a blank check. Beyond announcing her personal decision, the symbolism that it has, she has avoided openly asking her followers to vote for Trump. “I stand by what I said in my suspension speech. “Trump would do well to get closer to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me, and not simply assume that they will be with him,” she indicated.
Haley withdrew from the primary race following the March 5 Super Tuesday primary, in which Trump swept and virtually secured the proclamation of his candidacy. Despite her withdrawal, the candidate was already registered in the Republican primaries of numerous states and, despite not campaigning, she has received hundreds of thousands of votes in these two and a half months.
Haley won 21.8% of the vote (about 58,000 votes) in the Republican primary in Maryland and 18.2% in Nebraska (38,000) last week. The previous one, Haley added almost 21.7% of the votes in the Indiana Republican primaries (128,000 votes). In March, also weeks after her withdrawal, she received 111,000 votes in Arizona (18%) and 158,000 votes (16%) in Pennsylvania, two states expected to be decisive in the November presidential election.
This support for Haley has been interpreted as the refusal of a part of the moderate Republican electorate to align with the former president. Trump’s own landslide victory on Super Tuesday left some worrying signs for Trump, as Haley won more than 30% of the vote in several states. Biden, who has problems with the young electorate and minorities, reached out to Haley voters in March: “Donald Trump has made it clear that he does not like Nikki Haley’s supporters. “I want to be clear: there is a place for them in my campaign,” he said a few weeks ago.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
[Noticia de última hora. Habrá ampliación en breve]
Follow all the information about the elections in the United States on our weekly newsletter.
#Nikki #Haley #announces #vote #Trump #November #resisting #giving #support