(NewsNation) — While former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she would vote for Donald Trump, a new survey shows less than half of Republican and independent Haley primary voters would select the former president in the general election.
Thirty-six percent of surveyed voters said they’d back Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a new survey from Blueprint.
Surveyors contacted 781 registered Republicans and independents and said they did not include any Democratic-identifying voters or Democratic-leaning independents. Blueprint is a Democratic-leaning polling organization.
In an election that is expected to be very close, these voters could end up choosing the next president of the United States.
In Arizona’s GOP primary, Haley got 110,966 votes. If the survey is accurate, Trump would lose 61,031 of those votes. Back in 2020, Trump only lost the state by 10,457 votes.
While Election Day is still almost a month away and there are polls that show Trump gaining with other constituencies, the survey could raise some alarm bells in the Trump campaign. It also shows there’s a path for Harris to appeal to more of these voters.
The traits that Haley voters most associated with Trump are mixed, including “being too old to lead, too selfish to lead, has the experience to make tough decisions, is a strong leader, and is too extreme.”
For Harris, the traits Haley voters most associated with her are “being young enough, having compassion, having integrity, representing more of the same, caring what people who disagree with them think, and has the character it takes to be President.”
Character versus policy is the decision many of these voters seem to be grappling with. More of them worried that Trump’s character was too erratic (57%) versus his policies being too extreme (38%). But for Harris, it was almost the opposite, with 50% of voters expressing concern that her policies are too extreme while 38% felt her character was too erratic.
“Nikki Haley voters are up for grabs for Kamala Harris. They’re fed up with Trump’s chaos but skeptical of Kamala Harris’ policies, presenting an opportunity for the Harris campaign to close that gap,” Blueprint’s lead pollster, Evan Roth Smith said. “The bottom line: these voters are a home-run opportunity this October, but only if the right pitch is made.”
It appears that the Harris campaign is aware of both the gap and the opportunity, expending significant energy to appeal to these voters. Last week Harris held an event in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the GOP, with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney.
The event’s theme was “Country Over Party.” Cheney said this would be the first time she would vote for a Democrat. While Cheney herself wasn’t so popular with the Haley voters, her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, was viewed more positively. He has also endorsed Harris.
The campaign is not just relying on the Cheney family to make the case for Harris with Republican and independent voters. Former Republican Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Joe Walsh and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan have all been out on the trail for Harris. Duncan and Kinzinger were given speaking roles at the Democratic National Convention in August.
For many, Trump’s unwillingness to acknowledge that he lost the 2020 election as well as his actions, or lack thereof, during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots was a bridge too far. They see a Harris victory as a way to both save democracy and return the GOP to more traditional Republican values versus those motivating Trump’s MAGA movement. At that Wisconsin event with Cheney, Harris herself said “We are going to get back to a healthy two-party system.”
The campaign continues to tout the 200-plus Bush, McCain and Romney alumni who have endorsed Harris, and in interviews she has committed to appointing a Republican to her Cabinet.
There are also unaffiliated groups working to elect Harris, including Haley Voters for Harris and Republicans for Harris.
Haley Voters for Harris just announced a seven-figure digital advertising campaign in the swing states with the goal of reaching “center-right voters … and providing them a positive case, delivered by trustworthy fellow conservative voters, to choose Vice President Harris,” according to Craig Snyder, national campaign director for the organization.
Republicans for Harris is holding national phone banks and on Oct. 16 will hold a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a key swing state, calling on group members to “gather in the birthplace of our nation, nearly 250 years after its founding, to show what putting country before party looks like.”
While there appears to be some momentum with regard to the Harris campaign and those Haley voters, the issues that the voters cared most about in the survey were the economy, national security and immigration. They trusted Trump more on each of them.
Harris and her team have their work cut out for them. There’s less than a month until voters find out if they were able to capitalize on the opportunity and successfully close the gap.
