The Deciders, July 2024: Former Nikki Haley Voters

In this Article

• Voting in 2020 and 2024
• What the Voters Think of Kamala Harris
• What the Voters Like About Harris
• What the Voters Dislike About Harris
• Should Biden Resign from Office?
• Were the Primary Votes for Biden Invalidated?
• Did Biden Deserve Praise for Stepping Down?
• Is Trump Too Old to Run for Office?
• Views of Running Mates

In this year’s presidential election, voters from certain crucial demographic groups will play a big role in choosing the country’s next president. Each month, The Deciders series checks in with one of those groups to find out what they think about the candidates. This initiative is a partnership between Sago, Engagious, NBC News and Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship.

In July, just two days after President Joe Biden withdrew as a presidential candidate, The Deciders spoke to 14 voters who supported Nikki Haley during the primaries.

Voting in 2020 and 2024

Here’s how the 14 participants voted in 2020 and who they plan to support this year:

2020 (actual votes)

Joe Biden: 3
Donald Trump: 8
Jo Jorgenson: 3

2024 (expected votes)

Kamala Harris: 3
Donald Trump: 5
Chase Oliver: 3
Robert Kennedy Jr.: 2
Not Voting: 1

What The Voters Think of Kamala Harris

When these 14 voters were asked what word comes to mind when they think of Harris, here’s some of what they said:

“I would say a feminist.”

“Sometimes catty.”

“Giggly”

“Coattails”

“Liberal”

“She’s capable.”

“Interesting”

“Condescending”

“Flaky or word salad.”

“Radical”

“I want to say intelligent.”

“Loyal”

“Just feels like she’s always in the background.”

What the Voters Like About Harris

When the 14 Haley voters were asked what they like about Harris, their comments included:

“Strong and wise.”

“I just like that she’s a woman. I think it’s time to have a woman in the forefront.”

“She’s not Joe Biden.”

“I like that she’s really pioneering a trail for others to follow in her footsteps.”

“I like her background. I like where she’s coming from, like past jobs.”

What the Voters Dislike About Harris

Ten of the 14 participants see Harris’s candidacy as a continuation of Biden’s failed policies. When asked what they specifically dislike about Harris, here’s some of what these voters said:

“I think she’s out of her league.”

“How she was in charge of the Southern border, that was one of the very few things that people knew about her during Biden’s presidential run.”

“The simplistic explanations given when asked about Ukraine and other events.”

“I don’t have a good understanding of her policy views.”

“One of the things that I dislike about her is that we don’t know enough. She’s been Vice President for almost four years and we still have no idea what her platform is or what she stands for.”

“I dislike that when she is asked tough questions, even domestically, but specifically on the international stage, when she gets flustered, she giggles. I think that is a telling sign to our enemies that they have just made her uncomfortable. I don’t think that you should have a tell like that when you are running for president or are the current seated Vice President of the United States.”

Should Biden Resign from Office?

After Biden withdrew from the 2024 election, House Speaker Mike Johnson called for the president to resign from office. Johnson said that if Biden is not fit to run for president, he’s not fit to serve as president. When the 14 Haley supporters were asked if they agreed with Johnson, all of them said no.

Their comments included:

“If he were just a couple of months into his term, I think that would be another thing … He’s got five months left. It might cause instability in the country, as well as the rest of the world, to have a shift to Kamala or whomever and then another shift come election time.”

“If he steps down, that means Kamala steps in and she’s way more radical than anybody else.”

“I think part of it has to do with the length that’s left on his presidential term. It’s about six, seven months and I think he’s got the mental faculties to continue that. Plus, I think there’s a system of checks and balances and guardrails in place to make sure that he’s not making absent-minded decisions.”

Were the Primary Votes for Biden Invalidated?

House Speaker Johnson also said that when Biden stepped down, he invalidated 14 million votes – all the votes cast for him during the primaries. However, none of the voters who participated in this The Deciders session supported that view.

Here’s some of what they said:

“I’m not sure why [Johnson] is saying that, and I just don’t know where he’s going with that or what the point of it is.”

“I think it was kind of a fake primary anyway… Even before the primary, people didn’t want Joe Biden. I think it was like 65% of Democrats didn’t even want Joe Biden to run. So, it doesn’t really make sense. They’re not invalidating because they didn’t want him in the first place.”

“The way I view it is, the votes that were cast for Biden were cast for the Biden-Harris ticket. So, if Biden isn’t on the ticket, I believe it’s still a vote for Harris regardless, because he already identified her as his running mate.”

Did Biden Deserve Praise for Stepping Down?

Democrats praised Biden for his decision to leave the 2024 election. But only five of the 14 Haley voters thought he deserved those accolades. The comments from the group included:

“He would have never stepped down from running for the presidency unless they hadn’t cut all the money off … That’s the only reason, because he had no campaign money.”

“I don’t think he did it because it was the right thing to do. He did it because he had to.”

“No praise, because I did feel like he was getting a little old and he needed to step down, relax and live his life.”

Is Trump Too Old to Run for Office?

During the focus groups, the voters were asked if, considering Biden’s withdrawal as a candidate, the Democratic Party should turn the tables on the Republican Party and insist that Trump is too old to run for office. Seven of the 14 Haley voters thought that sounded persuasive. Their comments included:

“Because they’re both too old in the first place and we do need a new generation of political leaders.”

“I look back and the world’s different than 10 years ago … and just the topics and all the issues are so much different and they have to be handled so much differently.”

The other seven didn’t think focusing on Trump’s age was a solid strategy. They said things like this:

“It would be hypocritical for the Democrats to attack Trump on age.”

“If it was not an issue for Biden to be 81 up until Sunday, it is not an issue for Trump to be 78. Let’s not forget what, at 81, Keith Richards is able to do. He performs every night and he’s dancing and singing and remembering lyrics, so age is not really the determining factor. It is everything else that comes together.”

Views of Running Mates

Before the Republican Convention, only five of the 14 Haley voters had heard of J.D. Vance, Trump’s pick for vice president. Concerns about Vance’s youth—he just celebrated his 40th birthday on Aug. 2—and his limited political experience was raised by nine of these voters. Additionally, Vance’s isolationist stance is a cause for concern for 13 of the focus group participants.

Most respondents said that Harris’s choice of running mate would not affect their views of the vice president’s candidacy. However, one participant did say she would love to see Harris choose a certain former candidate for her running mate. “If she picked Nikki Haley, then I would vote. [Harris] could have my vote if she did that,” the voter said.

To hear more about what critical voting groups are thinking about in this presidential election year, don’t miss any edition of The Deciders. Each month spotlights a different demographic group expected to play an outsized role in choosing the next president of the U.S.