I'm slightly surprised Haley dropped out as early as she did, as she seemed adamant on staying in the race as long as possible. Perhaps that billionaire money dried out earlier than expected?
While her chances of ever being the party's nominee were doomed from the day Trump announced his candidacy (let alone when Trump handily won Iowa), I actually think it's commendable she insisted on staying in the race, for the simple reason of further demonstrating how unelectable Trump is. Even in spite of not having any path to victory, she managed to pull off 20-30% of the vote in several states. That's 20-30% of Republican voters who by-and-large will not vote for Trump under any circumstances. These numbers are simply devastating for Trump's re-election chances and I'm sure his campaign is very wary of this.
That being said, it is noteworthy that Haley's coverage by legacy media was mostly very favorable. All this talk of Haley actually having a chance, giving reasons why she should stay in the race, calling her "brave" or "maverick" or implying that she is moderate is not only a farce, but only furthers the MAGA narrative that "the media" is jumping at the chance to cover for anyone except Trump, making him the "lone wolf". Haley is not a moderate, plain and simple, just likely nearly every other elected official in the GOP. While her optics and rhetoric were undeniably less far-right and off-putting than Trump, she loses all credibility as a moderate candidate by talking about "wokeness", supporting restrictions on LGBT freedoms and abortion, and a further deregulated and crony-capitalist favorable economy, among other things. Haley and Trump really don't differ very much at all when it comes to key policies. If not openly supporting the end of democracy is enough to classify Haley as a "moderate", it really does show how far deep the GOP is in MAGA extremism.
I'll also add that Haley had the best chance of beating Biden in a general election. In fact, given Biden's abysmal approval rating and further falling out of favor with Arab and younger Americans by going all in on supporting Israel's genocide in Gaza, there is a relatively good chance that Haley would beat Biden. She, in spite of angering the MAGA base, would be the most capable of picking up independent voters, as well as moderate suburban Democrats who voted for Biden in 2020 yet Bush, McCain, and Romney in years past. Trump fails massively in this regard. Haley doesn't have any real baggage as far as being a corrupt, immoral, or unfit candidate like Trump does. There are voters who may not be particularly politically engaged but would love to see the first female president, and/or someone who isn't an octogenerian, and may be willing to make ideological sacrifices in order to make this happen. It's also worth noting that a sizable chunk of Trump's base- older, white, evangelical homeowners, are the most reliable voting bloc in the country and would likely still vote for Haley even though she isn't the lord-and-savior Trump. I'm sure all of this must make the Republican Party furious, in that they could theoretically pull off a victory in 2024 yet can't, all due to Trump. This all demonstrates how different that primary voters are from general election voters to begin with.
