Nikki Haley says she was ‘cutting up’ when she said NH voters ‘correct’ Iowa results

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Thursday downplayed her recent remark that New Hampshire voters would “correct” the results of the Iowa caucuses, telling town hall attendees in the Hawkeye State that she was just “cutting up.” 

“Oh my gosh,” Haley awkwardly sighed after receiving disapproving groans from many in the crowd at Grand View University in Des Moines when CNN host Erin Burnett brought up the gaffe.

The former South Carolina governor, however, defended her comments, arguing that people were taking the remark too seriously. 

“We have done 150-plus town halls. You gotta have some fun too,” Haley said. 

The White House hopeful, who’s polling in second-place in New Hampshire, compared to her third-place standing in Iowa, told Granite State voters at a town hall event Wednesday that they “have an opportunity to get this right,” by voting for her. 

“You know Iowa starts it. You know that you correct it … you know that my sweet state of South Carolina brings it home,” Haley, 51, added during the Milford, N.H., forum. 

“So, we’re at this town hall. We had 700 people in New Hampshire. We’re cutting up and yes, I said that,” Haley told the Iowa crowd, explaining her comments. 

She claimed that people in the three early nominating states – Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – often “banter against each other on different things.”

“New Hampshire makes fun of Iowa. Iowa makes fun of South Carolina. It’s what we do,” Haley said. 

“I think the problem in politics now is it’s just, like, too serious and too dramatic,” she argued. “If we’re having fun. I don’t live, eat and breathe politics all the time. I like to have fun too.” 

Haley went on to stress her fondness for Iowa and that her remarks weren’t indicative of a lack of confidence in how she would perform in the upcoming caucuses. 

“I have been coming here for months, going to every part of Iowa, shaking every hand, answering every question, being the last person to leave at every one of these town halls. You are going to see me fight until the very end on the last day in Iowa,” she said.

“I’m probably gonna say something funny in Iowa tomorrow about South Carolina and New Hampshire. It’s the way to just kind of not make everything so serious,” Haley added, drawing applause from the town hall attendees. 

Haley is trailing both former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Iowa polling. 

A RealClearPolitics average of polls measures her support in the Hawkeye State at 16.1%, compared to 18.6% for DeSantis and 51.3% for Trump. 

The Iowa caucuses will take place on Jan. 15.