Trump wins out over Haley on her home turf
• Last Republican challenger Nikki Haley vows to fight on after beating poll expectations
Donald Trump defeated Nikki Haley easily in South Carolina’s Republican contest on Saturday, extending his winning streak as he marches towards a third successive presidential nomination and a rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.
The former president was widely favoured to win the southern state, despite his litany of criminal charges and Haley being a native of South Carolina with two terms as governor.
The big win bolstered calls from Trump’s allies that Haley, his last remaining challenger, should drop out of the race.
But Haley, who exceeded expectations based on opinion polls, insisted defiantly that she would fight on at least until “Super Tuesday” on March 5, when Republicans in 15 states and one US territory cast ballots.
Trump won with 59.8% support against 39.5% for Haley with 99% of the expected vote tallied, according to Edison Research. State opinion polls before Saturday gave Trump an average lead of 27.6 percentage points.
“Forty percent is not some tiny group,” Haley said of her vote share. “There are huge numbers of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative.”
Trump has dominated all five Republican primary contests thus far — in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, the US Virgin Islands and now Haley’s home state — leaving her with no evident path to the nomination.
Trump gave his victory speech in Columbia, the state capital, minutes after the polls closed and did not mention Haley, claiming his party’s mantle as he looked ahead to the November 5 general election.
“I have never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now,” he said.
In recent days Haley had notably sharpened her attacks on Trump, questioning his mental acuity and warning voters he would lose the general election in November to Biden.
But there is scant evidence that a majority of Republican voters is interested in any standard-bearer other than Trump.
Immigration, which Trump has made a focus of his campaign, was the number one issue for voters on Saturday, according to an Edison exit poll. About 39% cited that issue, above the 33% who said the economy was their top concern.
About 84% of voters said the economy was poor or not so good, highlighting a major potential weakness for Biden.
Once again, however, exit polls also pointed to Trump’s vulnerabilities. Nearly a third of voters said he would be unfit to serve as president if convicted.
Trump’s first criminal trial is scheduled to begin on March 25 in New York. He is charged with falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.
He faces three other sets of charges, including a federal indictment alleging he conspired to reverse Biden’s election victory in 2020. Trump has pleaded not guilty in each case and claimed, with no evidence, that they stem from a Democratic plot to derail his campaign.
“A 20-point loss is better than a 30-point loss, but it’s still another blowout defeat,” Adolphus Belk, a political science professor at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, said of the contest on Saturday.
“That said, Haley performed strongly with the sorts of voters a GOP presidential candidate needs to win in November: moderates and independents most especially.”
Before flying to South Carolina to watch primary returns on Saturday, Trump addressed a gathering of conservative activists near Washington in a 90minute speech that painted a dark picture of a declining US under Biden. He said that if he beat Biden in the election it would represent a “judgment day” for the US and “my ultimate and absolute revenge”.
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy emerged as favourites for Trump’s vice-presidential pick, according to a poll of activists at the conservative conference. They received 15% support each.
Haley, whose foreign policy credentials are at the centre of her campaign, focused in recent days on Trump’s stance on Russia after the death of main opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
She criticised Trump for waiting days before commenting on Navalny’s death and then for not blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin. She also condemned his recent remarks that he would not defend Nato allies from a Russian attack
Haley had hoped that South Carolina’s “open” primary, which allows any registered voter to vote, would lead to turnout among independents and even some Democrats determined to stop Trump.
But Edison exit poll data showed that only 21% of voters thought themselves moderate or liberal and 19% said that in the party’s 2016 primary.