Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Thursday downplayed her current comment that New Hampshire voters would “appropriate” the outcomes of the Iowa caucuses, telling city corridor attendees within the Hawkeye State that she was simply “reducing up.”
“Oh my gosh,” Haley awkwardly sighed after receiving disapproving groans from many within the crowd at Grand View College in Des Moines when CNN host Erin Burnett introduced up the gaffe.
The previous South Carolina governor, nonetheless, defended her feedback, arguing that folks had been taking the comment too severely.
“We’ve got accomplished 150-plus city halls. You gotta have some enjoyable too,” Haley mentioned.
The White Home hopeful, who’s polling in second-place in New Hampshire, in comparison with her third-place standing in Iowa, informed Granite State voters at a city corridor occasion Wednesday that they “have a possibility to get this proper,” by voting for her.
“You already know Iowa begins it. You already know that you simply appropriate it … you recognize that my candy state of South Carolina brings it residence,” Haley, 51, added throughout the Milford, N.H., discussion board.
“So, we’re at this city corridor. We had 700 individuals in New Hampshire. We’re reducing up and sure, I mentioned that,” Haley informed the Iowa crowd, explaining her feedback.
She claimed that folks within the three early nominating states – Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – usually “banter towards one another on various things.”
“New Hampshire makes enjoyable of Iowa. Iowa makes enjoyable of South Carolina. It’s what we do,” Haley mentioned.
“I feel the issue in politics now could be it’s simply, like, too severe and too dramatic,” she argued. “If we’re having enjoyable. I don’t reside, eat and breathe politics on a regular basis. I prefer to have enjoyable too.”
Haley went on to emphasize her fondness for Iowa and that her remarks weren’t indicative of a insecurity in how she would carry out within the upcoming caucuses.
“I’ve been coming right here for months, going to each a part of Iowa, shaking each hand, answering each query, being the final individual to go away at each one in all these city halls. You’re going to see me combat till the very finish on the final day in Iowa,” she mentioned.
“I’m in all probability gonna say one thing humorous in Iowa tomorrow about South Carolina and New Hampshire. It’s the best way to simply form of not make every part so severe,” Haley added, drawing applause from the city corridor attendees.
Haley is trailing each former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Iowa polling.
A RealClearPolitics common of polls measures her assist within the Hawkeye State at 16.1%, in comparison with 18.6% for DeSantis and 51.3% for Trump.
The Iowa caucuses will happen on Jan. 15.
