Trump Criticizes ‘Scam’ Poll Showing Nikki Haley Trailing By Just 4 Points In New Hampshire

Former President Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of supporters at the Fort Dodge Senior High School in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Nov. 18, 2023. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

A new poll shows 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley slimming former President Donald Trump’s previously commanding lead in the race for the 2024 Republican nomination to just 4 points in New Hampshire, prompting the former commander-in-chief to label the poll as “fake” and a “scam.”

The poll, released on Dec. 21 by American Research Group, Inc., shows President Trump leading the pack with 33 percent support among likely Republican primary voters in the New Hampshire primary—but with Ms. Haley not far behind.

According to the poll, Ms. Haley, who was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Trump, has the support of 29 percent of likely GOP voters in New Hampshire—a difference of just 4 points, made all the more concerning for team Trump as the poll’s margin of error is 4 percent.

President Trump reacted to Fox News’s coverage of the New Hampshire poll in a scathing Friday morning post on social media.

“Fake New Hampshire poll was released on Birdbrain,” President Trump said on Truth Social, referring to Ms. Haley by a pejorative nickname he coined a few months ago.

Republican Presidential candidate former President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nev., on Dec. 17, 2023. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

“Just another scam! Ratings challenged FoxNews will play it to the hilt,“ he continued. ”Sununu now one of the least popular governors in the U.S. Real poll to follow.”

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, recently endorsed Ms. Haley for president in 2024, calling her “not some big government candidate with some big government mentality, but someone that can actually sit in the White House and say how do I put individuals first.”

Ms. Haley responded to the endorsement by saying: “It doesn’t get any better than this to go and get endorsed by the ‘Live Free or Die’ governor. It’s about as rock solid as an endorsement that we can get.”

Presidential candidate Nikki Haley spoke to a crowd of supporters at the McIntyre Ski Resort in Manchester, NH after winning the endorsement of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, seen seated in the front. (Photo by Alice Giordano)

‘Two Person Race’ vs ‘Fake Poll’

Ms. Haley has been gaining on President Trump in New Hampshire since September, with a poll released by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center on Dec. 20 showing her with 30 percent support among likely GOP primary voters, compared to President Trump’s 44 percent.

A survey from the same pollster carried out in September showed Ms. Haley with 15 percent support in the early voting state, with her latest numbers suggesting she has managed to double her support in New Hampshire.

After the poll from American Research Group was released on Thursday, Mr. Sununu took to X to comment that she’s closing in on President Trump.

“This is a two person race,” he wrote.

President Trump was asked about the poll by conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Friday.

“Are you worried about Nikki Haley in New Hampshire?” Mr. Hewitt asked.

“No, I’m not worried about it. I think it was a fake poll,” President Trump said. “I saw the one poll where I was up by 4 or 5 points. It’s a fake poll.”

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa, on Dec. 19, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The American Research Group poll was carried out from Dec. 14 to Dec. 20, on a sample of 600 likely Republican primary voters.

‘Right President At the Right Time’

Ms. Haley has avoided criticism of President Trump, calling her former boss the “right president at the right time” when responding to a question during a campaign appearance in September in New Hampshire.

“He broke things that needed to be broken; he listened and brought in a group of people who felt had been unheard, like where I grew up—rural South Carolina. He was strong on foreign policy and getting America’s respect in the world,” she said.

At the same time, she said President Trump was “thin skinned and easily distracted.”

President Donald Trump meets with Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in the Oval Office of the White House on Oct. 9, 2018. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist in New Hampshire, told The Epoch Times in a recent interview that he believes Mr. Sununu’s endorsement would give her a campaign a major boost.

Calling Mr. Sununu “one of the most popular governors in America,” Mr. Bartlett said the governor’s support for Ms. Haley “is the biggest political endorsement in the history of New Hampshire.”

For his part, Mr. Sununu has been critical of the 45th president, calling him “[expletive] crazy” and saying at a 2022 political roast in Washington that he thinks President Trump belonged in a mental institution.

Mr. Sununu wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times in August that for Republicans “to win, they must break free of Mr. Trump’s drama, step out of his shadow, go on offense, attack, and present their case.”

The animosity seems mutual, with President Trump calling Mr. Sununu a RINO, or “Republican in name only,” and saying he “never liked him.”

Alice Giordano contributed to this report.