Republican challenger Katie Arrington leads Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) in the polls, garnering a majority percentage when respondents were informed of former President Donald Trump endorsing the challenger.
Arrington — who received Trump’s endorsement only two days after she made her candidacy known, in which he trashed Mace as an “absolutely terrible candidate” — leads the incumbent with 51 percent of the vote after the likely 2022 Republican primary election voters were informed Trump’s endorsement of Arrington.
After being informed of Trump’s endorsement, Mace was down by 18 points, garnering only 33 percent of the vote, with not enough undecided voters to make up the difference and out of the margin of error as only 16 percent said they were undecided.
Thus, not giving Mace’s campaign a clear path to a primary victory, according to the poll, which also shows how strong of support the former president has in South Carolina.
The initial ballot shows that 50 percent supported Mace, and 35 percent supported Arrington, with 15 percent undecided before the respondents knew of Trump’s endorsement. When the respondents were asked about Trump, 71 percent had high remarks for the former president, while only 22 percent said unfavorable, and seven percent had no opinion.
Arrington’s internal survey was conducted by Remington Research Group between February 21 and 22. There were 489 likely 2022 Republican primary election voters who participated in the survey, with a 4.41 percent margin or error.
Arrington, running as a pro-Trump conservative, launched her campaign last month in South Carolina’s first congressional district against establishment Republican Mace in a major proxy battle for the party’s future in South Carolina’s low country.
The pro-Trump conservative told Breitbart News in an interview that “the South Carolina low country needs to be represented by a true, pro-Trump conservative representative who’s going to stand up.”
“The current congresswoman turned her back on the low country. She turned her back on President Trump, and she has not done what we asked her to go up there and do,” Arrington added, slamming Mace. “She’s more about branding herself and becoming a media personality than actually representing the priorities of the district, so we’re going at it to represent the priorities.”
South Carolina’s Republican primary will take place on June 14.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.