Reuters-Some Republican donors now eye Haley as best hope against Trump
September 27, 2023 5 min 861 words
这篇报道描述了一些共和党的捐赠者正在考虑支持尼基·哈雷作为对抗唐纳德·特朗普的最佳希望。这是一个备受关注的政治现象，尤其是在佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯的竞选陷入困境之后。报道指出，一些捐赠者印象深刻地观察了哈雷在八月份的第一次共和党总统辩论中的表现，并表示如果她继续强大作为候选人，他们愿意捐款支持她。 在过去的辩论中，德桑蒂斯曾被视为对前总统特朗普最有竞争力的挑战者之一，但由于失误和特朗普对他的持续攻击，他的竞选陷入了困境。尽管他的竞选陷入困境，但他仍然获得了一些主要捐赠者的支持。然而，一些捐赠者现在正在考虑寻找不是特朗普的可行候选人，这反映了一些共和党建制派捐赠者的绝望。 报道还提到，尽管有五名捐赠者正在关注哈雷，但并不意味着他们最终会支持她竞争党的总统候选人提名。有一位匿名的共和党捐赠者表示，他对德桑蒂斯是否能够获胜存在疑虑，现在他愿意考虑支持哈雷。这一决定将取决于他认为谁最有能力对抗特朗普，最终在选举中对阵民主党总统乔·拜登。 尽管一些捐赠者开始关注哈雷，但要赢得共和党的提名对于德桑蒂斯或哈雷来说都将是一项艰巨的任务，因为许多共和党选民似乎已经支持特朗普。最新的路透社/ Ipsos民意调查显示，特朗普领先德桑蒂斯近40个百分点，尽管最近在新罕布什尔州等州的一些民意调查显示哈雷正在迎头赶上或甚至领先德桑蒂斯。 总的来说，这篇报道反映了共和党内部竞争的激烈以及捐赠者在选择候选人方面的挣扎。尽管一些捐赠者开始关注哈雷，但要改变目前的政治动态可能并不容易，因为特朗普在共和党选民中仍然具有强大的影响力。这也凸显了2024年美国总统选举的重要性，以及共和党内部的分歧和挑战。
Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley appears to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' faltering campaign, with more donors saying they are looking more closely at her candidacy as an alternative to frontrunner Donald Trump.
Reuters spoke to four donors and one source close to a major donor who were impressed by the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the first Republican presidential debate in August and said they were keen to donate should she continue to strengthen as a candidate.
They will be watching to see how she does at the second debate in California on Wednesday night among those vying to win the party's nomination to run for president in the 2024 election.
DeSantis, once seen as the most formidable challenger to former President Trump, has struggled to catch fire amid missteps and relentless Trump attacks on his candidacy. Despite his campaign's struggles he has retained the support of some major donors.
Donors are crucial to keeping White House hopefuls afloat, and the willingness of some to now look beyond DeSantis underscores his struggle to convince donors that he is the best alternative to Trump. It also shows the despair of some Republican establishment donors looking for a viable candidate who is not Trump.
Of the five donors looking at Haley, three have so far broadly sat out the campaign while one has donated to DeSantis and another was supportive of him but did not donate. Reuters also spoke to a half dozen Haley donors, advisers to donors, and even supporters of other candidates who said more donors are looking at Haley.
One Republican donor, who gave more than $1 million to help DeSantis' presidential bid, told Reuters he has doubts that DeSantis can win and is now open to Haley, 51, who is campaigning as a foreign policy hawk while emphasizing her relative youth compared to the 77-year-old Trump.
"Until the first debate I hadn't seen her force of will and her presence. I absolutely would consider donating to her," the donor said, asking to remain anonymous.
He said his decision to support either Haley or DeSantis would come down to who he thinks is "most capable" of taking on Trump and, eventually, Democratic President Joe Biden in the election.
Uncommitted cosmetics billionaire Ronald Lauder is also interested in Haley following the first debate although he has not decided whether to support her, according to a source aware of his thinking.
To be sure, some of the Haley buzz has been generated by uncommitted donors paying closer attention to the Republican race now that summer is over. While more are looking at her it does not mean they will ultimately back her quest for the party's nomination.
The Haley campaign did not respond to requests for comment about donor support. DeSantis campaign spokesperson Andrew Romeo said in a statement that the campaign continues to see "overwhelming enthusiasm from grassroots and major supporters" and that it was looking forward to "continued fundraising success this quarter."
Winning the Republican nomination will be a monumental task for either DeSantis or Haley. Even if more donors do line up behind Haley, it may be in vain, as so many Republican voters appear set on Trump.
Trump is almost 40 points ahead of DeSantis, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, although some recent polls in states like New Hampshire show Haley gaining ground or even jumping ahead of DeSantis.
John Yates, a New Mexico-based donor who was initially somewhat interested in DeSantis, said he likes Haley's positions on China and Israel but would like to hear more about her domestic plans.
Ultimately, Yates stressed, he was looking for a "dark horse" to beat Trump. "I don't want a loser," Yates said.
But donors like Frayda Levin, a New Jersey-based former book industry executive, despair of finding a candidate who can defeat Trump, whom she opposes for what she considered his "crude" personality and "populist" policies.
"Money is not going to change the dynamic in this primary race," she said.
One of the complications of Haley's bid has been running against Senator Tim Scott, a fellow South Carolinian who is also seeking to win over party moderates.
Fred Zeidman, an early Haley fundraiser, said her debate performance convinced some donors who were hanging back to commit. "I've had a bunch of people wanting to connect and write checks," said Texas-based Zeidman.
Rob Godfrey, a Republican strategist who advises some donors, said he has also seen an uptick in support for Haley in South Carolina.
"It's up to her campaign and in some ways dependent on her second debate performance as to whether or not this is momentum or a moment," said Godfrey, who was Haley's spokesperson as governor but is neutral in the primary.