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Hello! Hello and welcome to the American podcast, a series of discussions about American power, politics and society.

On each episode, I will talk to an American expert or an expert on America about something that's going on in America in 2023. I am delighted to be joined today by Patrick Rafini, who is a

poster at Echelon Insights, and he is the author of a new book called Party of the People

inside the multiracial populist coalition remaking the GOP.

The GOP, of course, standing for the grand old party,

for British listeners who don't know, which is the Republican Party.

Patrick, I suppose the latest news on Republican polling is that Nikki Haley is doing, well, to my mind, surprisingly well, in the polls.

I wonder what you think about that and how this possible success, do you believe that she's doing well in the polls

and how does that tie in or how does your book possibly suggest that that she's not going to be

the republican nominee in 2024 i don't know if my book has very much to say about whether Nikki Haley specifically will be the Republican nominee in 2024.

However, we have seen since these debates, Haley has shown that she is very sharp in these debates and is good at hand-to-hand combat, whether it's with Vivek Ramoswami.

Not directly with Donald Trump,

since he is not on the debate stage, but she seems to show a certain level of combativeness

that I think Republican voters in this Trump era really appreciate, even though she comes at it

and her voting base is a good deal more moderate than Trump's voting base or even DeSantis her voting base is quite more modest, is a good deal more moderate than,

then Trump's voting base or even DeSantis's voting base.

Now, currently the polls show Trump is way ahead

in the primary nationwide.

...