Haley faces hurdles in toppling Trump even after Christie exits race

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

68% : Trump would still be the favorite, but his goal is to end the race after New Hampshire, Merrill said.
51% : Haley has surged in the polls in recent months, and some surveys have shown her even competitive with Trump.
47% : She said a question remains as to whether Christie had the impact he hoped for in taking down Trump, but Christie's influence has waned as he went from a rising star in the party ahead of his 2016 presidential run to someone struggling to find his place in a party that overwhelmingly views him unfavorably.
47% : He said "without question" Christie's goal was to help someone other than Trump win the nomination.
46% : Indeed, some polls have shown Christie supporters, who are largely looking to have the GOP move on from Trump, indicating they see Haley as their second choice.
46% : "If they all supported Nikki Haley, it still isn't going to change what is right now, as we are seeing, is the most viable outcome of Trump taking the nomination," Mancuso said.
41% : He was consistently the most willing to hammer Trump over his record and his false statements in a Republican field that has until recently mostly avoided calling him out.
36% : "We're assuming that there's going to be a lot of overlap between these two constituencies, but of course, not every Christie voter is going to go for her, and of course, some Christie voters may break to other candidates," said Ashley Koning, the director of Rutgers University's Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling.Christie, a former Trump ally who broke with the former president over his false claims of the 2020 presidential election being stolen, entered the 2024 race positioning himself as the chief opponent of Trump.
35% : "The best thing that's possible for that to happen, knowing that he didn't have a path, clearing a path further for Nikki Haley, who ... has the strongest chance of being an alternative nominee vs. Trump," Merrill said.
32% : Christie had regularly criticized his other Republican rivals for their unwillingness to go after Trump as he had, a position that put him on the outs with much of the GOP.
31% : He dropped out after weeks of pressure, citing not wanting to further split the vote in the effort to defeat Trump for the GOP nomination.
31% : But Republican strategist Mary Anna Mancuso said the New Hampshire primary is just one contest and the challenge for Haley to overcome Trump would remain herculean even if she scores an upset victory there.
23% : "She noted that Trump still is regularly reaching a majority in national polls and polls in other states, so coalescing the non-Trump vote is not enough for Haley, even if all the other candidates dropped out.
23% : Merrill argued that given Trump's long-held status as a front-runner and his advantage of "quasi-incumbency," Haley upsetting Trump in New Hampshire "dramatically resets the narrative going forward.
20% : He said other former candidates like Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) do not need to endorse a candidate to help stop Trump.
17% : "If Haley has an upset for Trump in New Hampshire, that still doesn't get any closer to the nomination," she said.
12% : Christie was heard speaking to someone at the town hall saying Haley is "gonna get smoked" by Trump in the GOP face, adding "she's not up to this."
12% : He did not endorse anyone during his speech on Wednesday and shed at least some doubt that he would do so because Haley and Ron DeSantis have not denounced Trump.
6% : Hurd has been a sharp critic of Trump and would not support him if he is the nominee, a position Haley has not taken.

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