Trump attacks Haley for having an Indian first name and photoshops her as Hillary Clinton in rant as new poll shows him leading by 16 POINTS in New Hampshire ahead of do or die primary

Former President Donald Trump took to ridiculing rival Nikki Haley in an online post that morphed her into Hillary Clinton, as a new poll gives him a commanding lead in a state critical to Haley's plans.

The poll had Trump hitting 50 per cent in the Granite state, just days after romping to victory in the Iowa Caucuses.

Haley, his chief rival in the state, was at 34 per cent in the new Suffolk University/Boston Globe/NBC-10 poll, 16 points behind the frontrunner, after having come in third in Iowa.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who edged out Haley for second place in Iowa, was down at 5 per cent. The poll of likely voters will come out daily throughout the tense runup to the primary Tuesday, January 23.

Former President Donald Trump leads rival Nikki Haley by 16 points in a new poll of likely New Hampshire voters 

Trump shared an image of Nikki Haley photoshopped with Hillary Clinton

Another recent poll, by WHDH-TV/Emerson, also had Trump holding a 16-point lead, but that was with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie still in the race. Christie's exit has created the expectation that much of the anti-Trump candidate's support would flow to Haley.

New Hampshire is critical to Haley's own battle plans to try to unseat Trump. It allows unaffiliated voters to cast votes in the GOP primary.

The news comes after Trump attended a raucous rally in Atkinson, New Hampshire, just hours after attending his E. Jean Carroll defamation trial in New York. 

He appeared onstage with former rival Vivek Ramaswamy, who endorsed him immediately after his own fourth place showing in Iowa. 

He holds a commanding lead in a new poll

Trump flew to New Hampshire after attending a defamation trial in New York

Former President Donald Trump went after Nikki Haley on Tuesday night as they both turned their focus on New Hampshire and what could be a battle to the death.

President Donald Trump introduced Vivek Ramaswamy to an ecstatic crowd in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on Tuesday evening at the end of a whirlwind 24 hours

Trump's campaign went after Haley on China for comments she made as Trump's UN ambassador

Trump's campaign also began unloading on Haley on issues ranging from taxes to Social Security – even going after her by saying she 'loves China.'

That critique comes from when she was serving as UN Ambassador – during the Trump administration. 

While representing America as ambassador to the United Nations, Haley described Communist China as being 'a really great friend of ours,' according to the release, which featured a clip amid Trump's own meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in an effort to secure more pressure on North Korea.

Trump also blasted Haley on Tuesday night, accusing her of exploiting the party's election rules.

'Nikki Haley in particular is counting on the Democrats and liberals to infiltrate your Republican primary,' said Trump before an adoring crowd at the Atkinson Country Club.

'You know that the left ... that's what's happening ... have a group of people coming in that are not Republicans and it's artificially boosting her numbers here, although we're still leading her by a lot.'

Haley does better among independents in the survey, getting 44 percent support to his 38 per cent. But he ran up the numbers among Republicans and conservatives.

Trump also highlighted – and botched – Haley's Indian first name, in an attack with echoes of his repeatedly blasts at 'Barack Hussein Obama' that highlighted his Democratic rival's name and heritage amid his false claims that Obama wasn't born in the U.S.

'Anyone listening to Nikki ‘Nimrada’ [sic] Haley’s wacked-out speech last night, would think that she won the Iowa Primary. She didn’t,' Trump posted on his Truth Social site. 'Nikki came in a distant THIRD!'

It was a misspelled version of her given name, Nimarata.

'She said she would never run against me, "he was a great President," and she should have followed her own advice. Now she’s stuck with WEAK POLICIES, and a VERY STRONG MAGA BASE, and there’s just nothing she can do!' Trump added.