Nikki Haley isn’t just beating Ron DeSantis by being a better debater, although that obviously helps. Here are some of the other reasons:
- HALEY IS PURSUING THE VOTERS SHE CAN GET: DeSantis, on the other hand, hopes Trump’s base will somehow just fall into his lap. It won’t happen.
- HALEY HAS FOUND A PRINCIPLED WAY TO ATTACK TRUMP: The two disagree strongly on foreign policy and the use of American power. DeSantis just echoes Trump on these matters.
- HALEY DIDN’T TAKE AN UNPOPULAR POSITION ON ABORTION: Haley is more in tune with the times than DeSantis on abortion. The donors have noticed.
- HALEY TOOK POSITIONS ON CULTURE WAR ISSUES THAT THE VOTERS COULD UNDERSTAND: “Wokeness” is not a concept that makes much sense to the average GOP voter. Haley just talked about the separate components of wokeness as individual issues and moved on.