Former President Donald Trump holds a commanding lead over his primary challengers in South Carolina, even on their home turf, according to a recent survey.
Trump has the backing of 47.9% of likely Republican primary voters in the latest Trafalgar Group survey. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took second place with 13.8% while South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott took 13.6%. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took 8.4% support.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie earned 6.6% support while tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy claimed 6.4%.
South Carolina is a key early primary state and a poor performance by Haley or Scott in their home state could adversely impact their decisions to carry on in the contest.
Nationally, Trump’s lead is substantially larger and neither South Carolina candidate performs as well. Trump enjoys 55.8% support in the RealClearPolitics polling average, compared to 3.3% for Haley and 3.0% for Scott.