Trump leads Haley in South Carolina nearly 2 to 1: poll

Former President Donald Trump appears poised to claim a decisive victory on former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina later this month.

Haley, Trump's only remaining primary challenger of any standing, governed the state from 2011 until 2017, when she entered his administration. She has thus far failed to claim victory in any Republican nominating contest, losing even to "none of these candidates" in the Nevada GOP primary, a race in which Trump did not appear on the ballot.

A loss in her home state could prove a crushing blow to her candidacy and a recent Winthrop poll suggests such a development may soon occur. Trump claimed 65% support among likely South Carolina voters in the survey, nearly doubling Haley's 36% support. Independents, who may vote in the primary, were largely split, with 42.3% supporting Haley and 42.6% supporting the former President.

Notably, Haley appears to have attracted support from the former backers of ex-rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

"More than half of Haley’s current 29% of supporters were with her earlier on, which tracks with our previous polling. As expected, the overwhelming majority of Trump’s support was with him from the beginning," said Winthrop Poll Director Scott Huffmon. "Despite Senator Tim Scott’s endorsement of Trump, Haley culled a bit more support from former Tim Scott supporters."

"Of surprise to me was that Haley picked up a few more former DeSantis supporters. I had assumed that supporters of the candidate running as 'Trump-Lite' would migrate to Trump, but Haley showed a surprising pull for these voters who were apparently looking for a Trump alternative," he continued. "That said, the sheer mathematics of winning over more of DeSantis’ declining number of supporters could do little to cut into Trump’s lead."

The primary is scheduled for Feb. 24.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.