©Reuters. People wait in line to cast their votes at the Northlake Fire Station during the Republican presidential primary election on Election Day, in Irmo, South Carolina, February 24, 2024. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer
By James Oliphant
(Reuters) – Frontrunner Donald Trump hoped to use a sizable victory in Saturday’s Republican primary in South Carolina to persuade rival Nikki Haley to withdraw from the presidential race. While the result brought Trump even closer to the party’s nomination, Haley vowed to move forward.
Here are some highlights from the South Carolina primary:
ALONE
Right now Haley appears to be a no-party candidate. And apparently she’s fine with that.
Haley, as expected, was beaten by Trump in her home state of South Carolina, where she served for six years as governor. In 2016, when Trump defeated US Senator Marco Rubio on Rubio’s home turf in Florida, Rubio immediately withdrew under somewhat humiliating circumstances.
But Rubio had a job in Washington to return to and had to worry about getting along with Trump if he won the White House. Haley has no such worries.
As Haley reiterated several times during her trip to South Carolina, she isn’t aiming for a vice president job and doesn’t want a Cabinet job. When she leaves the race, as she may well do in the coming weeks, only her private life will await her.
Haley’s motivations for staying remain largely under wraps. But as the race has evolved, it has become the voice of a part of the Republican Party that feels rootless, those traditional-minded conservatives who have supported presidential candidates like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney.
Haley is the closest thing they have now to an advocate and supporter — and at least for now, she maintains a public platform to express her opinions. The moment she leaves, the camera lights go out and the crews return home.
BORDER STRIKE
Exit polls conducted Saturday by Edison Research made one thing clear: Trump edged out Haley on the issue of immigration and border security.
That mattered in South Carolina, where 39% of voters listed immigration as their top priority. Of these voters, 82% supported Trump and only 16% supported Haley. And of the 68% of voters who believe undocumented immigrants should be deported to their home countries, 79% voted for Trump.
At campaign events, Haley has claimed that she too takes a hard line on immigration, but Republicans don’t seem to believe it. Trump’s campaign this week released a television ad titled “Weakness” in which it said Haley opposed Trump’s so-called “travel ban” on Muslims during his administration and questioned the need for a wall along the border of the United States with Mexico.
FactCheck.org called Trump’s announcement misleading, noting that Haley supported the wall but would have preferred a more targeted ban than the one Trump instituted.
In any case, Trump’s attacks appear to have gained traction, which does not bode well for Haley’s prospects in a party increasingly consumed by the issue of migrants crossing the border.
A WINTER OF DISCONTENT
Trump continues to hold a strong lead even when it comes to voters unhappy with the state of the economy, which, unfortunately for Haley, includes a large share of the Republican electorate.
A whopping 84% of voters surveyed by Edison said the condition of the economy is “neither that good nor that poor” despite low unemployment and a booming stock market. About three-quarters of these voters supported Trump.
Voters who said their personal financial situation was stable also chose Trump in large numbers. Only the small fraction of voters who believe the economy is in good shape preferred Haley.
Trump won a majority of voters in all income brackets surveyed by Edison. According to what has been his historical pattern, he has done best with those without college degrees and those earning less than $50,000 a year.
Overall, if you were a voter upset with the status quo in America, you would have chosen Trump: 46% of exit poll respondents said they were “angry” about the state of the country, with Trump getting 85% that vote.