![CNN's Phil Mattingly duked it out Monday with guest Josh Barro after the latter said former President Donald Trump is running the best primary campaign out of all the possible candidates. [Screenshot CNN]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Screenshot-2023-12-04-at-11.19.52-AM-e1701706841872.png "CNN's Phil Mattingly duked it out Monday with guest Josh Barro after the latter said former President Donald Trump is running the best primary campaign out of all the possible candidates. [Screenshot CNN]")
CNN’s Phil Mattingly duked it out Monday with guest Josh Barro after the latter said former President Donald Trump is running the best primary campaign out of all the possible candidates.
Barro said despite former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s rise in the polls, she likely will not be able to win the general electorate.
“I just don’t see her as preferred over Donald Trump by the voters,” Barro said, with CNN’s political analyst Ana Navarro agreeing.
Navarro said that the current Republican primary race is like a parallel universe because “the guy who’s winning the primary is the guy that’s not engaged!”
“The person who’s running the best campaign right now in this primary is Donald Trump, in part because he’s gotten out of the way, staying out of the debates not only avoided elevating all the candidates in the primary, it’s also elevated Joe Biden in the general election in a way that’s unfavorable to Joe Biden. People aren’t talking about Donald Trump,” Barro said.
“Are we not defining competency down to some degree about like not participating in anything is why–” Mattingly said. (RELATED: Just How Good Are The Polls For Donald Trump?)
“Well, isn’t running the best campaign, making the best strategic choices that are available to you in the situation that you’re in?” Barro asked. “I think that’s part of the problem for everyone who’s running against Donald Trump this cycle, this is his third presidential campaign, he’s gotten better at it. He’s made better hires. Susie Wiles who’s running the campaign is a much smarter operative than the people who have been doing this for him previously.”
Trump leads all of his primary opponents by double digit margins, with Trump also beating President Joe Biden in key swing states. Trump leads Biden among young voters in a recent NBC News poll as the current president’s support amongst young voters has fallen to single digits.