Nikki Haley suspends 2024 presidential campaign: Election live updates

Gustaf Kilander has the story:

Polling organizations are doubtless racing to find out exactly how many supporters of Nikki Haley will cross party lines and vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump.

Currently, the most indicative polling is of Mr Trump’s electoral demographic weakness Ms Haley has exposed as noted by Alyssa Farah Griffin in a column in The Daily Beast.

The former Trump White House aide turned CNN panellist and co-host of The View, writes:

A CNN exit poll of Virginia primary voters found that among Nikki Haley voters, 78 percent would not commit to voting for the Republican nominee in November. In California, 69 percent of Haley voters said they wouldn’t vote for Trump in November, according to an NBC News exit poll. Even more striking were exit polls out of North Carolina that found 81 percent of Haley voters would not commit to voting for the eventual GOP nominee.

These numbers are remarkable if you consider that GOP primary voters are historically among the most intense of voters—meaning they will turn out and skew strongly more to the right than the average general election voter.

But, she notes that both candidates are flawed, so this is not all good news for the incumbent President.

While Biden has an advantage with moderates and independents fired up on issues such as abortion access, Trump has the advantage over Biden on border security, which has become the chief issue for most Americans.

The Biden camp therefore has to convince people to get off the couch and vote this November or the US may face the prospect of Trump being re-elected while losing the popular vote by a record amount given how the Electoral College works.

Joe Biden wasted no time in making his pitch to Nikki Haley’s supporters who do not want to vote for Donald Trump in November’s general election.

In a tweet this morning the president reminded them of what the former president had said about supporters of Ms Haley.

“You don’t have to agree with me on everything to know MAGA extremism is a threat to this country,” Mr Biden wrote. “We need everyone on board—join our campaign.”

He attached a screenshot of one of Mr Trump’s Truth Social posts in which he attacked Ms Haley, calling her “Birdbrain” and then saying: “Anybody that makes a “contribution” to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them…”

Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley announced today that she is quitting the presidential race – clearing the way for Donald Trump to clinch the Republican nomination and setting American voters up for a Biden-Trump 2020 rematch.

As she delivered a speech on Wednesday morning from her home state of South Carolina, she announced she was suspending her campaign — adding she has “no regrets” about her campaign’s trajectory, which spanned just over a year — but did not endorse Mr Trump.

Kelly Rissman reports for The Independent:

Joe Biden released a statement after Nikki Haley announced the suspension of her campaign for the Republican Party nomination for the 2024 presidential election.

The president noted the former UN ambassador’s “courage” in seeking the nomination going up against Donald Trump, and seizing on the initiative he made a direct appeal to her supporters (the majority of whom have said they would not support the former president) to cross party lines and vote for him on the Democratic ticket instead.

“It takes a lot of courage to run for President — that’s especially true in today’s Republican Party, where so few dare to speak the truth about Donald Trump. Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump: about the chaos that always follows him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin.

“Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign. I know there is a lot we won’t agree on. But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America’s adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground.

“We all know this is no ordinary election. And the stakes for America couldn’t be higher. I know that Democrats and Republicans and Independents disagree on many issues and hold strong convictions. That’s a good thing. That’s what America stands for. But I also know this: what unites Democrats and Republicans and Independents is a love for America.”

Donald Trump posted an oddly timed statement on Truth Social saying he hoped Nikki Haley stays in the race for the Republican nomination despite news having broken some four hours before that she would be suspending her campaign. The post went live as she was addressing supporters in South Carolina.

Notably, she did not give an endorsement of the former president.

Mr Trump said on Truth Social:

Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries. Much of her money came from Radical Left Democrats, as did many of her voters, almost 50%, according to the polls. At this point, I hope she stays in the “race” and fights it out until the end! I’d like to thank my family, friends, and the Great Republican Party for helping me to produce, by far, the most successful Super Tuesday in HISTORY, and would further like to invite all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation. BIDEN IS THE ENEMY, HE IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!

“Just over a year ago, I launched my campaign for president. When I began, I said my campaign was grounded in my love for my country…but the time has now come for me to suspend my campaign.”

She lists things that she thinks the country should do or change, including the national debt that she says will eventually crush our economy; smaller government as necessary for our freedom; Congress is dysfunctional, calls for term limits in Congress; standing by allies is Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine is a moral imperative.

On Donald Trump, she said: “I congratulate him and wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America’s president. Our country is too precious to let our differences divide us.”

She added: “Our conservative cause badly needs more people.”

Ms Haley offered no endorsement and quickly exited the stage after her brief remarks.

For Independent Premium, Jon Sopel joins a thousand jubilant Republicans in Florida as Donald Trump declares himself invincible in the race for the party’s presidential nomination.

But his rival Nikki Haley has a couple of options – one thermonuclear – that could yet derail him.