United States elections 2024
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Yommie
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Early South Carolina exit poll shows highly conservative electorate, with many identifying with MAGA movement
By Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN
3 minute read
Updated 5:56 PM EST, Sat February 24, 2024
A man votes at the WL Stephens Aquatic Center in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 24, 2024.
Julia Nikhinson/AFP/Getty Images
CNN —
The electorate that Donald Trump and Nikki Haley are battling to win in South Carolina is a highly conservative one and looks much more like Iowa than New Hampshire, according to the initial results of CNN’s exit poll for the state’s Republican presidential primary.
As in January’s Iowa caucuses, well over 4 in 10 South Carolina primary voters describe themselves as affiliated with the MAGA movement, the exit poll finds.
Roughly 8 in 10 say that they’re conservatives, with more than 4 in 10 calling themselves very conservative.
And only about one-third acknowledge that Joe Biden was the legitimate victor of the 2020 presidential election – similar to Iowa, but lower than in New Hampshire, where nearly half of primary voters acknowledged Biden’s victory.
Trump dominated the Iowa caucuses, taking 51% of the vote, while Haley trailed in third place behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who later dropped out of the race. The outcome was closer in New Hampshire, but Trump still came out ahead 54% to 43% over Haley.
Exit polls are a valuable tool to help understand primary voters’ demographic profile and political views. Like all surveys, however, exit polls are estimates, not precise measurements of the electorate. That’s particularly true for the preliminary set of exit poll numbers, which haven’t yet been weighted to match the final results of the primary. But the results provide a glimpse into the type of voters turning out to participate.
The early exit poll also showed that most South Carolina GOP primary voters had made up their minds before 2024 had even started. More than three-quarters say they decided whom to support for president sometime prior to January, and fewer than one-tenth say they made up their mind in the week prior to voting.
While voters’ decisions are often too complex to be reduced to any single issue or candidate attribute, the exit poll provides some clues as to which topics gained traction in the campaign. Slightly below 4 in 10 primary voters say they were most looking for a candidate who would fight for them, with another third saying they wanted someone who would share their values and fewer prioritizing temperament or electability.
And the results also show a significant gap between Trump and Haley supporters in how they view the race. A near-universal 9 in 10 Trump voters say they cast their vote largely in support of him, rather than against his opponent. While most Haley voters also say they were primarily motivated by support for her, a substantial minority – about 4 in 10 – say their vote was mostly a way to express opposition to Trump.
The exit poll for South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary was conducted by Edison Research on behalf of the National Election Pool. It includes 1,508 interviews with Republican primary voters across 38 different polling places on Election Day. Results for the full sample have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.0 percentage points; it is larger for subgroups.
Yommie
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Trump soundly defeats Nikki Haley in South Carolina Republican primary
Result called for Trump almost immediately after polls close as former South Carolina governor suffers stinging home-state loss
www.theguardian.com
Result called for Trump almost immediately after polls close as former UN ambassador suffers stinging home-state defeat
Lauren Gambino and Joan E Greve in Charleston
Sun 25 Feb 2024 00.05 GMT
Donald Trump has defeated Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina, a stinging setback that narrows her vanishingly thin path to the nomination.
Trump hails ‘great day’ after resoundingly quick South Carolina victory – latest updates
Read more
Palmetto State voters have a long history of choosing the party’s eventual nominee, and Trump is on track to clinch the Republican nomination months before the party’s summer convention in Milwaukee.
Trump had stormed through the early voting states, racking up wins – and delegates – in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. Beating Haley, who served as his ambassador to the United Nations, in her home state delivers another stinging blow to her candidacy, moving the nomination even further out of her reach. But her campaign has vowed to press on regardless of the outcome.
Haley’s campaign announced on Friday it was launching a “seven-figure” national cable and digital buy ahead of Super Tuesday on 5 March. On Sunday she will host a rally in Michigan, which holds its primary on 27 February, before embarking on a cross-country swing through several Super Tuesday states.
Her refusal to be driven from the race has frustrated Trump and his allies. They say Haley, who has compared herself to David taking on Goliath, has no path to victory, and accuse her of relying on wealthy donors to keep her long-shot bid alive and merely prolong the inevitable.
A sign announcing Trump’s victory on Saturday night. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP
But Haley’s supporters say they are grateful for her presence in the race as a reminder of what a future Republican party might look like. Some believe the 52-year-old Haley is laying the groundwork for a future presidential run, or positioning herself to be the obvious second choice in the extraordinary event Trump can no longer serve as the party’s nominee.
Trump faces 91 felony charges as well as mounting legal fees and vast financial penalties that he has tapped his campaign fund to help pay. At her events, Haley tells voters that it is “not normal” for a candidate to spend more time in the courtroom than on the campaign trail, or to ask donors to foot his legal bills.
But Trump’s legal travails, which stem in part from his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his role in the 6 January assault on the US Capitol, have only strengthened his support.
In recent days, Trump’s campaign has already started to turn its attention toward the general election contest against Joe Biden, who is gliding to his party’s nomination without a serious primary challenge. Trump’s team has moved aggressively to take control of the Republican National Committee, which is expected to remain neutral in the primary.
Trump began his day in Washington, where he delivered a dark speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) before returning to South Carolina to attend an election-night watch party in the state capital, Columbia.
Earlier in the day, Haley cast her ballot on Kiawah Island, her home precinct. Later, her cross-state Beast of the Southeast bus tour rolled into Charleston, where she was scheduled to deliver remarks at an election night watch party.
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