Donald Trump Gets Warning Sign in Primaries

Donald Trump’s comprehensive victories in recent GOP primaries have been overshadowed by the number of Republicans still voting for Nikki Haley.

The presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee continued his dominance in the primary season with resounding wins in Nebraska, Maryland and West Virginia on May 14, receiving more than 80 percent of the votes in each state.

What may be concerning for Trump is the support Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, continues to receive in primaries, though she dropped out of the race in March. Tuesday, Haley received 20 percent of the votes in Maryland—her highest vote share since she suspended her campaign—and almost 18 percent in Nebraska.

Tuesday’s results were the latest warning sign for Trump that he is still struggling to win over more moderate GOP voters, who may be crucial in helping him beat President Joe Biden in November. The primaries in Nebraska and Maryland were closed, meaning only registered Republicans could cast a ballot, while registered Republicans and independents were allowed to vote in the West Virginia GOP primary.

This is in stark contrast to the Indiana GOP primary on May 7, in which Haley received 21.7 percent of the vote. However, Haley’s support may have been boosted by the fact that voters do not need to be registered with a particular political party before casting their ballots in the state’s primaries.

Newsweek has contacted Trump’s office for comment via email.

The latest primary results suggest there is still a strong Republican protest vote against the former president, who is on trial after pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, and polls suggest many Haley supporters may go on to vote for Biden in November.

These states’ primary results may not significantly alter the results of the 2024 election. Trump won West Virginia by 39 points in 2020 and Nebraska by 19 points, meaning he may be able to lose a sizable number of votes in both states and still beat his Democratic rival in November.

Biden also dominated Maryland in the 2020 election, winning 65 percent of the vote. So it seems unlikely that Trump will win the strong blue state even if he manages to gain the support of the state’s Haley voters in the general election.

Nevertheless, the results have been part of a trend that suggests Haley voters may still play a significant role in determining who wins the 2024 election.

“In every swing state, except for Nevada, the number of Nikki Haley [primary] voters far outpaces the [margin] between Trump and Biden in 2020,” Robert Schwartz, the executive director of Haley Voters Working Group and an adviser to the Haley Voters for Biden super PAC, told Politico before Tuesday’s primaries

“In all those places, if you can get 20 percent to vote for Biden and another 5 to 10 percent who don’t vote at all, that’s going to be the difference-maker in this election,” he continued.

In an interview with WGAL, a news station in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Trump downplayed the significance of Haley receiving almost 17 percent of the vote in the swing state’s primary on April 23.

“All of those people are going to come to me because, first of all, what’s their choice? Biden? He’s the worst president in the history of our country,” Trump said.

He added: “There’s never been a president so bad. He’s incompetent. So they’re all coming to me. We see it already. They’re all coming to me.”