COUNCIL BLUFFS, Neb (KMTV) — There are still 20 months left between now and the 2024 elections but the excitement is already building for the candidates on the campaign trail.
“I am a two-term governor, who turned South Carolina into an economic powerhouse and made the people proud again. I was a US ambassador that didn’t work with one country I worked with 193 countries and took the kick-me-sign-off your back. Now I'm running for President because you deserve better,” said GOP Presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
Nikki Haley is one of three GOP hopefuls who have announced they are running so far, along with former President Donald Trump and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
She made a stop in Council Bluffs on Wednesday to speak with potential voters.
Haley is one of several candidate making stops in the Hawkeye state and she pulled in plenty of supporters for Wednesday’s town hall.
“She knows the world well, she was on the United Nations and knows all countries, who are our friends and who are not. I'm surprised she isn’t farther in the polls I hope she can pick up,” said Len Nieland from Pacific Junction, Iowa.
The issues Haley is campaigning on should be familiar to conservative voters.
She fired up the crowd with her takes on education and controversial topics like CRT, her desire to see manufacturing jobs brought back from overseas and her frustration with how much money is being sent to countries hostile to the United States.
And Haley wasn’t picking sides when criticizing irresponsible spending.
“Republicans and Democrats did that to us. There are no saints in congress, when you look at the spending it was republicans that started it with 2.2 trillion in stimulus bailouts with no accountability. Then you go and look and Democrats just took up where Republicans left off,” said Haley
Most of the crowd we spoke to said they were familiar with Haley and that they preferred her over former President Donald Trump, who right now is considered the frontrunner of announced GOP candidates.
“I think she is better, I'd vote for her before I voted for the other ones,” said Nieland.
Most of those same polls show Haley as a distant third to Trump and Desantis but there is a lot of time between now and Election Day and Haley is confident that those numbers will change before votes are counted.
“There are a lot of political pundits who want to talk about this race. I can tell you some things I know are facts. The polls that you see today, will not be the polls you see a year from now. They will be different,” said Haley.
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