Two Republicans will try on Wednesday to present themselves as the best alternative to the big favorite Donald Trump for the American presidential election, during a televised face-to-face less than a week before the start of the primaries.
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, well ahead of Donald Trump in the polls for the Republican nomination, are playing a bit of a game of double or nothing during this last debate before the choice of voters in Iowa.
Because a good electoral performance on Monday, in this small state where the stakes are high, would serve as a springboard for them to hope to catch Donald Trump and defy the predictions.
In a skirmish before the face-to-face, Nikki Haley accused Ron DeSantis of “lying because he is losing”, after he claimed that his rival was inspired by Hillary Clinton, the Former Democratic presidential candidate.
The other Republican candidates are entering the race with so little momentum that they haven’t even met the criteria set by the party to participate in this debate in Des Moines.
Trump stands apart
Donald Trump, for his part, once again chose not to take part, believing he had too big a lead and that he had nothing to gain by exposing himself to a possible barrage of criticism.
But he once again took care to organize counterprogramming, with a campaign event in the same city broadcast by the conservative channel Fox News while his two rivals debate on CNN.
- Listen to Luc Lavoie’s analysis on Yasmine Abdelfadel’s microphone via QUB :
This attitude earned him a dig from his former ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, who judged in a press release that “it was time for Donald Trump to show up”. “As the field of debaters shrinks, it becomes harder for him to hide,” assured the former governor of South Carolina.
Ron DeSantis has also criticized him on this point, recently saying: “He comes to give a half hour or an hour of speeches and leaves, rather than listening to the people of Iowa, answering their questions.”
Still, the former president is probably reassured by a new poll (Suffolk University/USA TODAY) indicating that 51% of Republican voters do not plan to watch this debate, a sign that the proposed poster may be lacking a little flavor to their taste.
According to poll aggregator RealClearPolitics, Trump leads the way in Iowa with 52.3% of voting intentions, far ahead of Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis each around 16%.
Nationally, the businessman is credited with 51.5%.
- Listen to the American political column with Professor Luc Laliberté via QUB :
Springboard for Haley
His lead does not weaken despite the legal proceedings against him, the calendar of which is almost intertwined with that of the primaries. On the contrary, the tycoon has integrated indictments and trials into his campaign strategy, going so far as to use his mugshot on mugs and t-shirts.
On Tuesday, he was before the federal appeals court in Washington which is examining his request to benefit from criminal immunity as a former president. And on Thursday, he will again be before the New York court which is trying him in a civil case for suspicion of fraud in the management of the Trump organization.
Once presented as a serious threat to Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis never managed to emerge.
So much so that he now finds himself trying to stay in contact with Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s rival with the most momentum, and his future almost necessarily involves a very solid result in Iowa.
For Nikki Haley, a good performance in Iowa would be an ideal springboard towards the next election, on January 23 in New Hampshire, where independent voters can vote for the Republican primaries. The latter could favor him more than Trump, potentially tightening the race.
Without having a perfect campaign, Nikki Haley displays enough support, money raised and good figures in the polls to now face attacks from Trump and his allies, who had ignored her until then.
