Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who announced her presidential candidacy this week, knows she has a "lot of work to do" to gain the nomination, but her campaign must focus on where she stands on the issues, as GOP voters don't care about whether a candidate is male or female, conservative pollster Jim McLaughlin told Newsmax on Wednesday.
"It's not about gender," McLaughlin, of McLaughlin and Associates and the pollster for former President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, said on "Wake Up America." "It's about where you stand on the issues. We have real problems in this country right now, so they're going to be looking to candidates that could actually help solve those problems."
Haley, former South Carolina governor, made her announcement on social media early Tuesday morning, joining Trump, her former boss, as the second Republican to formally declare a candidacy for 2024.
McLaughlin said he questions Haley's timing, as the announcement came not only early in the morning but on Valentine's Day and just two days after the Super Bowl.
"We all know everybody was kind of talking about the Super Bowl last couple of days, but she knows she has a long way to go," McLaughlin said. "If you look at these Republican primary surveys for the vast majority, obviously, Donald Trump is way out in front. But then you look at her. She's in the low single digits. She knows she has a lot of work to do."
McLaughlin said Haley may be running, like other candidates in the past, with eyes on another prize, such as a vice presidential nomination under another candidate.
"Quite often, they're running for vice president, and we saw it on the other side with Kamala Harris," McLaughlin said. "Sometimes, they're also running for cabinet positions, and we could be seeing that here. She's got to make a strong case to the voters, and we've also seen it over the years where it can actually hurt a candidate if they have a bad showing in the presidential race."
McLaughlin said "the weakness of Joe Biden" could prompt a repeat of the 2015-16 race, when many Republicans entered the presidential race.
But also like in 2015, McLaughlin said he expects to see the "swamp" gang up on Trump, "and we also saw what Donald Trump did to the swamp."
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