Former President Donald Trump faced warning signs in the Indiana GOP primary as former Republican rival Nikki Haley received more than 20 percent of the vote despite dropping out of the White House race two months ago.
Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate, easily won the state on Tuesday with 78.3 percent of the vote, continuing his dominance overall in the GOP primary, but the former South Carolina governor still received 21.7 percent of the vote in Indiana, a total that amounted to more than 128,000 votes.
The Context
Trump has already secured enough delegates to clinch the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in March after victories in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state, continuing a trend of resounding victories in GOP primaries nationwide.
There have been signs, however, that the former president is struggling to garner key support from GOP voters beyond his MAGA base, including more moderate Republicans who may be vital to Trump's hopes of taking back the White House from President Joe Biden in November.
Tuesday's results in Indiana follow a similar story in the recent GOP primary in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, where Haley, seen by most voters as a more moderate Republican candidate, received more than 158,000 votes (16.6 percent) despite dropping out of the race in March in the wake of the Super Tuesday results.
What We Know
Trump won all of Indiana's 58 delegates in the GOP primary on Tuesday, bringing his total to 2,037 compared to Haley's 97.
Trump's domination in the GOP primary races has been partly overshadowed in recent months by Haley still receiving notable support.
Tuesday's results follow on from Haley receiving more than 2 million votes on Super Tuesday, including winning Vermont, a reliable Democratic stronghold.
Haley also received more than 26 percent and 18 percent of the GOP primary vote in the key swing states of Michigan and Arizona respectively, amounting to hundreds of thousands of votes.
Several polls have indicated that many Haley supporters will not go on to vote for Trump in the 2024 election.
Haley's support in Indiana, however, may have been boosted by the fact that voters do not need to be registered with a particular political party before casting their ballots in the primaries.
Newsweek has contacted Trump's office for comment via email.
Views
Democratic pollster Matt McDermott said: "If Joe Biden were losing 1 in 4 voters in every primary, it would be the top headline across America. There is a massive protest vote against Trump, and it should be the top headline."
Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Over 100,000 Indiana votes are in and Trump is losing nearly one quarter of the Republican primary vote to Nikki Haley, who dropped out over two months ago. This is devastating for him."
What's Next
The Maryland, Nebraska, and West Virginia GOP primaries will be held on May 14.
The Republican National Convention, where Trump will be confirmed as the 2024 nominee, will take place in Milwaukee in July.
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
