Nikki Haley thinks she's going to be Republican prez pick: Report

WASHINGTON: Asserting that any Republican is better than US President Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris, Indian-American Nikki Haley has said that the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential elections is going to be her.

Fresh out of the first Republican primary debate late last month, Haley told CBS News that she doesn't think that the party front-runner and former boss Donald Trump is going to be the presidential nominee.

"I don’t think President Trump’s going to be the nominee. I think it’s going to be me. But I will tell you that any Republican is better than what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are doing,” Haley told 'Face the Nation' on CBS.

“The American people are not going to vote for a convicted criminal. The American people are going to vote for someone who can win a general election. I have faith in the American people. They know what they need to do," she said.

However, the former South Carolina Governor said she will support Trump if he emerges as the eventual Republican nominee even if he is convicted, by saying she did not foresee that scenario playing out.

A vast majority of Republican candidates, including Haley, had raised their hands at the primary debate stage last month when asked if they would support Trump if he were the ultimate nominee, even if he were a convicted felon.

“First of all, he’s innocent until proven guilty,” Haley told CBS News, explaining her support to the former ;resident, who has been indicted in four criminal cases and has been charged with 37 violations of the US Espionage Act.

Continuing her tirade against the US Vice President and fellow Indian-American, Haley said that she will ensure that the Republican nominee pick is someone that is "going to beat a President Kamala Harris".

Haley, who has maintained that a vote for Biden is a vote for his 2024 running mate, said that choosing Harris as president means "never getting our country back".

"I will support the Republican nominee always, and I will make sure that that person, we’re going to pick someone that’s going to beat a President Kamala Harris. Because we can’t have a President Kamala Harris or we’ll never get our country back."

In the latest opinion poll by The Wall Street Journal, Haley took the third spot after Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Trump still tops the list of polls with 53.6 per cent followed by DeSantis at 13 per cent, Ramaswamy at 7.1 per cent and Haley at 6 per cent.