Poll: If Trump wins GOP nomination, Nikki Haley top pick as VP — but others aren’t far behind

If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination for president, most voters want him to pick Nikki Haley as his running mate, according to a new national poll conducted by HarrisX for the Deseret News.

Registered voters were asked who they want Trump to pick as his vice president, if he is the GOP nominee. Among registered voters, 19% of all voters, and 20% of Republicans, chose Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The second option was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at 15%, and 18% of Republicans, followed by Chris Christie, who received 9% overall, and 4% of Republicans, and Vivek Ramaswamy, chosen by 8% overall, and 13% of Republicans.

Mike Pence, who was Trump’s former vice president and recently bowed out of the 2024 contest, received 7% support, and former Republican presidential candidate Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was picked by 6% of respondents.

Haley was the top choice among Democrats and independent voters, too, as 21% of registered Democrats said they’d like Trump to select Haley, if he wins; 15% of independents said the same.

Also included in the poll were a slew of potential vice presidential candidates who received 5% or less support from voters, including Sen. Tim Scott (5%), Tucker Carlson (5%), Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (5%), Gov. Kristi Noam (4%), Kari Lake (3%), Gov. Kim Reynolds (1%), Asa Hutchinson (1%), Gov. Doug Burgum (1%), Rep. Byron Donalds (1%), and Rep. Elise Stefanik (>1%). Another 11%, and 6% of Republicans, chose “someone else.”

The poll was conducted Nov. 21-22 among 1,012 registered voters. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

With less than seven weeks until the Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the 2024 presidential cycle, Trump maintains massive leads in national polls. FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregator shows Trump at 60% nationally, with his closest challengers — DeSantis and Haley — in the low teens or single digits. In Iowa, the competition is closer, though Trump still leads by over 20 percentage points.

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But Haley has seen a sharp uptick in momentum in recent weeks. In Iowa, she’s received key endorsements from a number of high-profile activists, including Marlys Popma, a pro-life crusader and ex-John McCain adviser. In some polls, her support in Iowa has tripled since early August.

Haley denies that she’s running to be vice president, though. “I don’t run for second,” she told Politico in August. “That’s something that I hear all the time, and I’ll tell you that, look, we have a country to save, and I don’t trust anybody else to do it.”

DeSantis, Ramaswamy and Christie have each said they would not serve as Trump’s vice president, if they were invited to do so.

“(Haley) wouldn’t entertain talk of the second slot at this time — and maybe not ever — because she believes she can win the nomination,” GOP consultant Max Klink told Newsweek.

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It seems unlikely, though not impossible, that Trump would select Haley as his running mate. Historically, it is rare for a nominee to select a primary challenger as a running mate in the general election. And though Trump and Haley were once allies, Haley’s decision to run against Trump — after saying she’d stay out of the race — irked the former president.

Trump has repeatedly derided Haley during campaign appearances. At a recent event in Iowa, Trump blasted Haley for disloyalty and called her “Birdbrain.”

“I know her well,” Trump said. “She’s not up to the job (of president).”

While Haley has frequently critiqued the Trump administration’s record, especially on its overspending, she has been hesitant to directly attack the former president. At a debate in August, she acknowledged that she’d support Trump if he wins the Republican nomination, even if he is convicted on any of the legal charges he faces.