DES MOINES, Iowa — Nikki Haley saw a major move in the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll by J. Ann Selzer & Co., passing Ron DeSantis for second place ahead of the 2024 Iowa caucuses.
Local 5 spoke with Haley about her candidacy — and how she thinks her work will prove itself on caucus night.
With a cold caucus night ahead, the enthusiasm for Haley is something the latest poll looked into. According to the poll, majority who plan to caucus for Haley say they are only mildly enthusiastic (49%), or not enthusiastic (12%).
Q: How are you setting yourself apart from the other candidates to really have that strong showing here?
A: I mean, no one can outwork us. We have literally been anywhere in everywhere. We will continue to do that. We're shaking hands. We're doing phone calls with voters. We're trying to get caucus people to bring their friends. And so it's everything until the very end. We're not going to let up.
Q: Are you worried about the weather on caucus night, about people showing up?
A: So I hope people will layer up I hope they remember to bring their ID I hope that they remember that we need them to show up. I always sets the tone for our country. They really do. They're the first ones that say this is the direction we think this, the country should go.
Q: And for those who are a little bit worried to get out, why should they I guess, what's your message for why they should come out for you?
A: We have a country to save. We need people to get out and caucus. This matters. I mean, you see every election, they say is more important than the one before. But never have. We had a country in disarray in a world on fire like we see right now. And we can't go forward dealing with vendettas and grievances and people taking things personally, we've got to go forward, mission focused, ready to get our country back on track
Q: Final message for Iowans to you know get out there that you really want to leave them with?
A: We can't have a president Kamala Harris. And we can't live in chaos anymore. And we don't want to leave it lead with names in the past. We want to go forward with the future. We need someone who can win a general election. But we also need an accountant that will get the economy back on track. We need a mom who understands the importance of kids education, we need to make sure is the wife of a combat veteran who's deployed now that we take care of our veterans and we secure our border because it's a national security threat. And so we're gonna go through we're going to work hard, we're going to fight for every vote, and we're going to make America proud. That's what we want. As a mom, I don't want my kids to live like this anymore. Something's got a shift in our country. And the only shift that can happen is a new generational leader and I'm going to do that.
Watch the full one-on-one interview below: