Trump widens lead over Haley in new South Carolina poll

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- Former President Donald Trump is holding onto a strong lead over his GOP rival former Gov. Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina with just 10 days to go until the Republican primary, according to a new poll.

A Winthrop University poll released Wednesday found that 65 percent of likely voters – those who identify as Republicans, Republican-leaning Independents, and Independents who plan to participate in the Feb. 24 primary – support the former president compared to Haley’s 29 percent.

Trump applauded the latest polling during a Valentine’s Day rally in North Charleston, predicting that the primary will be over “very quickly.”

“We’re going to win a gigantic victory in just a few days,” Trump said.

Those numbers are not ideal for Haley who told News 2 earlier this month that she needs to close the gap to stay competitive in the Republican presidential race.

“We need to close that gap. We did that in New Hampshire. We were 25 points behind, and we closed, we came in about 25 points in the last three weeks of the election. Our goal is to close that gap, to make sure we do that here,” said Haley.

While Trump is the preferred candidate among all likely voters in the state, it is more evenly split among Independents. Of those likely to vote in the primary, 42.3% support Haley and 42.6% support Trump.

“We did not ask Democrats or Independents who Lean Democratic if they intended to vote on February 24, but to the degree that there is any crossover voting, it is likely to help Haley,” Poll Director Dr. Scott Huffmon noted. “However, not only is crossover voting less prevalent than many partisans make it out to be, it would take quite a few crossover votes to cut into Trump’s lead.”

Trump on Tuesday accused Haley of “pushing Democrats” to vote and claimed that “liberals and Marxists” are attempting to “meddle” in the primary.

South Carolina holds an open primary which means that registered voters can choose whether to participate in the Republican or Democratic primary.

Haley and her campaign officials have pushed back on the idea that she is targeting Democrats, but have not disputed that she wants to expand the party’s base.

“If you’re running for President of the United States, you want as many people to come in as you can. This is about addition. This is about getting everybody into where you want to be. You don’t push people out of your club,” Haley said at a Tuesday evening rally in Summerville.

But, top officials in the Democratic Party have warned that South Carolina Democrats won’t be “bailing” Haley out.

“My message to Nikki from you know, bless her heart from the very start, is that we’re not gonna vote for you, because you didn’t do anything for us,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said the day of South Carolina’s Feb. 3 Democratic primary. “You didn’t do anything for us so we aren’t gonna bail you out. You know, we got two MAGA apples in this field that’s left, and both of them are right.”

Early voting for South Carolina’s Republican primary is underway and ends on Feb. 23.