Former President Donald Trump is trouncing Republican primary challenger Nikki Haley in South Carolina, mere days ahead of the state’s primary, recent surveys released this week show.
A recent Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll examining the primary race in Haley’s home state of South Carolina shows Trump once again boasting a double-digit advantage on the former governor’s turf.
According to the survey, Trump garners 63 percent support, putting him 28 points ahead of Haley, who garnered 35 percent support.
David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said the survey’s results showcase “the depth of strength shown by Trump.”
That particular survey was taken February 15-18, 2024, among 500 likely South Carolina primary voters. It has a +/- 4.4 percent margin of error.
Coinciding with that is the release of an Emerson College survey examining the race in the Palmetto State, and again Trump takes a double digit lead over Haley with 58 percent support to her 35 percent — a difference of 23 points.
This survey acknowledged, particularly, that Republicans are breaking for Trump 71 percent to 29 percent for Haley, while independents are leaning to Haley 54 percent to Trump’s 46 percent. This is significant, as South Carolina is an open primary state, and Haley’s campaign has made it clear that it is counting on non-conservative voters in open primary states throughout this nominating process.
Haley’s campaign detailed this strategy in a memo released hours ahead of the New Hampshire primary results.
As Breitbart News reported:
The memo lays out what it apparently views as Haley’s path to victory, including a strong performance in South Carolina, which has no party registration. Then the campaign moves on to Michigan, the memo states, which has an open primary.
The memo adds that 11 of the 16 Super Tuesday states have open or “semi-open” primaries. In other words, the campaign believes there is “significant fertile ground” for Haley on Super Tuesday, attracting non-conservative voters.
Emerson College also found that Trump has the edge over Haley with voters under the age of 40, and Haley “wins among the relatively few Republican primary voters who consider threats to democracy (63%), education (62%), and abortion access (53%) the top issues in the state, while Trump wins overwhelmingly with voters who say the economy (69%), immigration (74%), and crime (62%) are their top issues.”
The Emerson College survey was taken February 14-16, 2024, among 1,000 registered voters and has a +/- 3 percent margin of error:
These polls, released days ahead of the February 24 primary, are similar to the results of several other South Carolina surveys, which also show Trump dominating his rival by double digits.
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Regardless of the results, Haley has made it abundantly clear that she intends to remain in the race beyond her home state.
“We will go to Michigan and Super Tuesday. … We have a country to save. I’m not going anywhere because I don’t want my kids to live like this,” she said during an appearance on CNN.
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