Nikki Haley spoke to a crowded auditorium at Utah Valley University in Orem on Feb. 28, in the hopes of courting some Utah Republican voters ahead of Super Tuesday.
The hundreds of attendees were enthusiastic and energetic. Many showed up hours in advance to make sure they would get seats in the main auditorium, not the overflow room.
Some wore t-shirts that read “Barred. Permanently.” referring to a recent speech where former President Donald Trump said anyone who donated to Haley’s campaign would be “permanently barred” from his MAGA movement.
Haley’s visit to Utah is part of a weeklong tour of some of the states with a primary or caucus on March 5. A total of 15 states are participating in Super Tuesday. Rather than a primary, Utah’s GOP voters will choose between Ryan Binkley, Nikki Haley and Donald Trump in a presidential preference poll at local caucus meetings.
Her visit also comes after defeats in every nominating contest so far, including the former governor’s home state of South Carolina.
A Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll from January 2024 predicted Haley would capture 22% of Utah Republican votes on Super Tuesday – compared to Donald Trump’s 49%. The poll was conducted just before DeSantis left the race, but even if his 17% of votes all went to Nikki Haley, she would still trail Trump by 10 points.
At the rally, Haley addressed the fact that her chances are slim, saying “everyone wants to know: Why is she still running? Why is she still doing this?”
She said it’s because she wants to bring back traditional Republican values of fiscal responsibility, small government and a strong military. According to Haley, these are things Trump took the party away from.
“It doesn’t matter what he does, chaos just follows him,” she added. “Everywhere he goes chaos follows him.”
There is precedent for Utahns feeling uneasy about Trump. In 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton with just 45.6% of the statewide vote, the lowest margin for a Republican since George H. W. Bush in 1992.
Haley supporters represent what may be a larger problem for the former president’s campaign. A recent Marquette Law School poll showed Biden and Trump would be neck and neck in the general election. If Haley were to get the Republican nomination, however, she would beat Biden by 18 points. She acknowledged that strength at her Orem rally.
“You win by 18 points that’s bigger than the presidency – that's House, that's Senate, that’s governorships, that’s school boards,” Haley said.
Voters like Steve Morley are driving that difference between Haley and Trump in a general election. He’s a Republican who attended the event. Haley’s calls for “smaller government, and less spending,” resonated with his desire for a more traditional Republican in the White House.
When it comes to the general election, he really hopes he’ll be able to vote for Haley.
“But painfully, I'll vote for someone whose positions I don't share before I'll vote for someone I think could ruin a country.”
