Nikki Haley is campaigning at a grueling tempo as she fights to remain aggressive within the Republican presidential contest, crisscrossing Iowa and New Hampshire to discover a clear lane ahead in a race dominated by Donald J. Trump and his mountain of authorized issues.

So far, that path is elusive.

By many measures, Ms. Haley is operating a wholesome marketing campaign poised to capitalize on rivals’ errors. She has constructed a strong fund-raising operation and her crew has money to spare: An excellent PAC backing her this week announced a $13 million advertising effort in Iowa and New Hampshire. And at occasions, voters usually like what she has to say.

“She is not pounding the pulpit,” Eric Ray, 42, a Republican authorized protection marketing consultant in Iowa, stated after watching her communicate at a barbecue restaurant final weekend in Iowa City, including that she had his vote. “She is not jumping up and down. She is not screaming the word ‘woke.’ She is making reasonable arguments for reasonable people.”

Yet as Ms. Haley tries to occupy a lonely realm between the reasonable and far-right wings of her celebration, her makes an attempt to achieve nationwide traction — talking openly about her positions on abortion, taking a hard stance in opposition to transgender women taking part in in women’ sports activities, attacking Vice President Kamala Harris — seem like falling flat with the Republican base at massive.

Worryingly for Ms. Haley, as Mr. DeSantis’s campaign has stumbled and given his rivals a gap, it has been Mr. Scott, her native Republican rival, who has appeared best positioned to benefit.

“I wouldn’t dismiss her just yet,” stated Dante Scala, a professor of political science on the University of New Hampshire. But, he added, “When you are treading water among your own party’s voters — that is a problem.”

Allies of Ms. Haley, 51, the only Republican girl within the race, argue that she has overwhelmed lengthy odds earlier than, gorgeous political analysts to win the South Carolina governor’s workplace by climbing from fourth place in the polls and fund-raising.

Her marketing campaign says it has exceeded its benchmarks: At least 2,000 gathered in Charleston, S.C., for the kickoff of her presidential bid. Ms. Haley has held extra occasions in Iowa and New Hampshire than most of her rivals, and her bid is attracting the curiosity of a large mix of donors.

When voters ask about how she will be able to prevail, Ms. Haley factors to retail politics — “get used to this face, because I am going to keep on coming back” — and her monetary energy. Her prime rivals have spent thousands and thousands of {dollars}, with little to indicate for it, she suggests, as a result of few voters have been paying consideration in these early summer time months.

“We haven’t spent anything,” she stated in Iowa City, declaring her marketing campaign was about “to kick into full gear.” She added, “You will see me finish this.”

But Mr. Trump poses a distinct sort of impediment for her, and for each different Republican candidate taking part in catch-up.

Ms. Haley, who served as United Nations ambassador underneath the previous president, has rigorously calibrated her method to Mr. Trump and his unwavering followers. Delivering most of the similar broadsides he does, however cloaking them in calm tones and plain language, she has alternated between criticism and praise of the previous president.

Her unwillingness to instantly confront Mr. Trump has drawn criticism from some anti-Trump Republicans. Former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey lately in contrast the reluctance of Ms. Haley and different candidates to say Mr. Trump to the “Harry Potter” world’s worry of uttering the identify “Voldemort.”

“Nikki, it’s OK,” Mr. Christie stated. “Say his name. It’s all right.”

Ms. Haley fired right back, saying: “I’m not obsessively anti-Trump like he is. I talk about policies.”

At a gathering with six different Republican rivals on Sunday in Iowa — although not together with Mr. Trump — Ms. Haley talked about the previous president in passing, not as a 2024 rival, however to recall how he “lost his mind” in delight over a briefing guide she ready whereas serving as his U.N. ambassador.

Her speech was heavy on overseas coverage, most notably warning that China was outpacing the United States in shipbuilding, hacking American infrastructure and creating “neuro-strike weapons” to “disrupt brain activity, so they can use it against military commanders.”

Ms. Haley has spent years toeing the road between the Reagan-Bush neoconservatism she as soon as sought to emulate and the Trump-centric politics of at present’s Republican voters.

During the 2016 election, when Mr. Trump first ran, she didn’t help him within the Republican major or his pledge to construct a border wall. But she finally stated she would vote for him and later agreed to function his ambassador. She left on good phrases at the end of 2018, receiving a uncommon glowing review from Mr. Trump in an administration during which workers turmoil and turnover had been rampant.

After the Capitol riot, she faulted the president. But she later contended that he was needed within the Republican Party and lavished reward on his approach to foreign policy, together with his dealings with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-un, the chief of North Korea. She has since echoed Mr. Trump’s hard-line immigration message, together with an concept to deploy the military in opposition to drug cartels in Mexico.

In latest stump speeches and political occasions, Ms. Haley has turned China — and never Mr. Trump — into her foil, amplifying her assaults on the Biden administration for its makes an attempt to thaw relations with the worldwide superpower.

As governor of South Carolina, she lauded and welcomed Chinese firms, serving to them expand or open new operations within the state. But on the 2024 path, she has argued that this funding accounted for lower than 2 p.c of the roles and initiatives her administration introduced in, and that she didn’t find out how harmful China was till she grew to become U.N. ambassador.

“I’ve been across the negotiating table from China,” Ms. Haley informed an viewers of greater than 50 folks at a producing firm in Barrington, N.H., promising to crack down on the “Chinese infiltration at our universities” and the importation of fentanyl from China throughout the Southwestern border. “They don’t play by the rules, they never have.”

A shiny spot for Ms. Haley is her fund-raising. She raised $7.3 million by her presidential marketing campaign and affiliated committees from April by June, in line with monetary filings that exposed her sturdy enchantment to small donors. Her sturdy community of bundlers, or supporters who elevate cash from buddies and enterprise associates, contains 125 such backers. Forty p.c of them are first-time bundlers, and the group contains highly effective girls in enterprise and politics, in line with her marketing campaign.

Jennifer Ann Nassour, one in every of her bundlers and a former chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, stated Ms. Haley was in a primary place to interrupt out on the first Republican debate this month.

“No one wants to see another Trump-Biden showdown,” Ms. Nassour stated, including that it was “not good for democracy.”

At the city corridor occasion in Barrington, Toby Clarke, 64, requested Ms. Haley a query weighing on many G.O.P. voters who wish to transfer on from Mr. Trump: How can the Republican Party come collectively and keep away from splitting its major ends in a approach that arms the nomination to the previous president?

“Everybody is worried that this is going to turn into 2015 all over again,” Ms. Haley responded, assuring Mr. Clarke that the sphere of Republican candidates was smaller and that she was assembly the required benchmarks to tug forward. “It’s not going to be 2015 all over again.”

At an occasion at a winery in Hollis, N.H., later that day, with attendees shielded underneath umbrellas as rain poured from the sky, Ms. Haley expressed optimism, promising to outwork her rivals.

“Republicans have lost the last seven out eight popular votes for president — that is nothing to be proud of,” she stated. “We need a new generational leader.”

Trip Gabriel contributed reporting.