Nikki Haley supporters in Michigan want her to CONTINUE her campaign after 20-point loss in her home state so she can 'pick up the pieces' if Trump implodes: 'It's going to be hard for him to run for president from jail'

It had been almost exactly 24 hours since Nikki Haley lost to Donald Trump in her home state of South Carolina by a 60-40 margin, and supporters who packed a Michigan hotel ballroom encouraged her to continue the fight so she can capitalize on any calamities that befall the frontrunner.

‘I think maybe she’s there in case something happens – she can pick up the pieces,’ said Dale Morgan, a retired chiropractor who came to see Haley after voting for Trump in 2020.

‘I would rather have Nikki – I think Trump’s a douche bag,’ he said. 

Morgan is a realist about Haley being able to crack Trump's lead: She has yet to win a state, and trails in the upcoming Super Tuesday contests. But he says she wants her to stay in the fight.

‘I’m tired of the lack of decorum and a few things like that. I think the dignity office ... no matter what happened on January 6th, whatever, Trump should have ridden with Biden to the inauguration,’ he said.

‘I think maybe she’s there in case something happens – she can pick up the pieces,’ said Dale Morgan, a retired chiropractor who came to see Nikki Haley in Troy, Michigan

‘It doesn’t seem like there’s a path for her to win the nomination,’ he admits. But he says Haley could reassemble her run 'if something happens' to the frontrunner, noting that '‘Trump has so much trouble. But his polling numbers go up every time he goes to court.'

Morgan spoke to DailyMail.com about the state of the race shortly after Haley held her first public event since losing to Trump. She barely referenced her defeat as she began her remarks to several hundred supporters.

‘We came from South Carolina. It’s colder here,’ she began.

William Brown, 27, a mechanic who works on Lincolns, calls himself a realist – but also wants Haley to stick it out, despite the odds and the polls.

'If Trump's charged with something, it's going to be hard for him to run for president from jail. So there's still hope. And if we don't win this year, there's always 2028,' he said.

He is done voting for Trump. 'If he had been able to stay off Twitter and run the presidency like the president should, maybe. But he just can't keep quiet - can't do his job.' And if Haley doesn't win? 'Then I'm going to have to look at Third Party or maybe not vote at all.'

'I would love to have her on the ticket for many years to come,' said Haley backer Grant Spencer, who called Trump a 'criminal'

Robert Janisfe is hoping Haley can be Trump's running mate in case 'Trump gets disqualified because of his legal problems'

'If Trump's charged with something, it's going to be hard for him to run for president form jail,' said mechanic William Brown. Haley's signs at the event didn't say 'Michigan' – but also didn't say '2024'

Nikki Haley said the 40 per cent of voters who backed her in South Carolina shouldn't have to 'cave' to Trump

US Republican presidential hopeful and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley greets supporters at a rally in Troy, Michigan, on February 25, 2024, a day after losing her home state to Trump

That is a posture in keeping with exit poll results out of South Carolina, where a fifth of Haley's supporters said they wouldn't back Trump – enough to raise some alarms for the Republican about the November election even as he leads Joe Biden in polling in battleground Michigan, a state Biden won in 2020 and Trump won in 2016.

Another supporter, Grant Grant Spencer, brought daughters Harper and Ella along to see Haley, plus 16-month old Riker to see the 52-year old candidate he believes has a bright future.

Spencer is an optimist when it comes to Haley's chances. 'I think anything is possible. It's a question of probability. And there's always a way.'

'I would love to have her on the ticket for many years to come,' says the 2020 Trump supporter who has soured on the former president. 

 'I believe he's a criminal,' he says of Trump.

Spencer says 'America is built on compromise.' If Haley loses and it's a race between Trump and Joe Biden, 'I would probably lean back on my libertarian roots,' he says. 

Robert Janisfe came to the event in his Honda Gold Wing Road Riders Association motorcycle jacket. He makes plastic molds for a living, but isn't keen on how Trump has shattered the traditional political mold for politicians.

'Even though he's on the ballot, how is he going to fulfill the role [with] all the trouble he's having – legal problems, personal problems, all that. And his opponents are not going to let him go with hit. I can see why everybody's still voting for him, because he's the dark horse,' he said.

Janisfe says he doesn't know if Haley can beat Trump. 'But her best chance is vice president. It would be Trump and her, and Trump gets disqualified because of his legal problems - that might be worth the country's while.'

Haley herself keeps rapping Trump, although she has denied any interest in being his vice president.

On Sunday night she called for mental competency tests for officeholders, hammered him on the debt and isolationism and for relying to political supporters to pay $50 million in legal fees, and coopted some of his attacks on electric cars.

And she tied him to Vladimir Putin after Trump said he would encourage Russia to invade NATO allies who don't meet their defense commitments.

'Trump is siding with a thug ... Trump is siding with a dictator who kills political opponents,' Haley said. 

Haley brandished her 40 per cent support in South Carolina, and said the victorious Trump is the one who would have to reassure her supporters. 

'You can't have a candidate who's going to win a primary who can't win a general,' she said. 'He as a Republican incumbent didn't get 40 per cent of the vote of the primary.

'He's not going to get the 40 per cent by calling them names,' she continued. 'He's not going to get the 40 per cent if he is not willing to change and do something that acknowledges the 40 per cent.

'Why should the 40 per cent have to cave to him?'