Haley, in Iowa, draws contrasts with Trump

WAUKEE — For Sam Wells, an Iowa man in his 70s who describes himself as a formerly lifelong no-party voter who plans to participate in the Iowa Republican caucuses for the first time, Nikki Haley thread the needle just right when talking about former President Donald Trump.

Wells was one of the roughly 200 people who came to hear Haley, the Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor, speak at a campaign event held Sunday afternoon at a trucking and farming business just outside this western Des Moines suburb.

Haley, as she has previously on the campaign trail, said Trump was “the right president at the right time” and that she agrees with a lot of his policies. But Haley also, as she has more recently on the stump, said that “chaos follows” Trump, and that she does not want to get into the personal attacks that are a staple of Trump’s style of campaigning and governing.

Haley served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under then-President Trump.

“The way she approaches Trump is absolutely the right way to do it: not get personal, talk about the issues and how to correct them,” Wells said after hearing Haley speak. “She was very positive. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like.”

Trump has held a consistently commanding lead over the rest of the Republican presidential candidates in polling both nationally and in Iowa. In those polls, Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are working to close that gap.

Trump’s polling average in Real Clear Politics’ rolling average of Iowa polls is 47.3 percent, while DeSantis is at 18.7 percent and Haley at 15.7 percent. In similar polling metrics on the data journalism website FiveThirtyEight.com, Trump is at 45.9 percent, DeSantis at 19.7 and Haley at 17.5.

Wells said if Trump and Biden are the nominees for the 2024 presidential election, he will vote third-party, for either Robert Kennedy Jr. or retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. Kennedy started out running for president as a Democrat and has since mounted an independent campaign. And since announcing he will not run for re-election to the U.S. Senate, Manchin has not ruled out running for president as an independent candidate.

Wells, who lives in West Des Moines, said he came to Sunday’s event about 80 percent sure he will support Haley in the Jan. 15, first-in-the-nation Iowa Republican caucuses. That number went up after hearing Haley speak, he said.

“Being a woman, she brings a different perspective for how to attack problems,” Wells said. “We are in chaos (as a country), and we cannot have another year of chaos.”

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Phyllis Johnson, also from West Des Moines, needed even less convincing. Johnson said she was the first in her friend group to get behind Haley, and has since volunteered to help the Haley campaign in Iowa.

“I think she’s amazing. She addresses things without getting personal,” Johnson said, adding that she believes Haley would as president be able to bring Americans together.

Underlying the work left to be done for Haley — and any Republican presidential candidate — in Iowa, one woman in the crowd declined to be interviewed, but said she came to hear Haley because she is trying to choose between Haley and DeSantis. Haley early in her remarks asked how many in the crowd were hearing her speak for the first time. At least half of the crowd raised their hands.

Haley closed the event with a plea to those who liked what they heard to spread the word about her campaign.

“I have been underestimated in everything I’ve ever done, and it’s a blessing because it makes me scrappy,” Haley said. “No one will outwork me in this race. No one will outsmart me in this race. Because we have a country to save.”

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