The winner of South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary has been announced after polls in the Palmetto State closed Saturday evening.
Former President Donald Trump once again handily defeated his only remaining serious challenger for the nomination, Nikki Haley, in the state where she served two terms as governor. The Associated Press was the first to call the race in Trump’s favor. He remains undefeated in primary races.
In an interview Friday evening with Fox News host Bret Baier about her reasons for staying in the race and if she would consider being Trump’s vice president, she was emphatic in her answer.
“Where can you paint a picture on Super Tuesday where you can get a victory?” Baier asked
“We’re gonna see what happens tomorrow. But look, the problem when people say, “Why is she doing this? Why is she doing that?” At first, they were like, ‘She’s doing this because she wants to be vice president.’ I think we’ve pretty much settled that. Then they’re saying–“ Haley responded before Baier interrupted.
“Have we settled it?” he said.
“There is no political motivation. If there were political motivation, I would have gotten out of this a long time ago,” Haley said.
“By the way, have we settled the vice president thing?” the anchor asked.
“Of course, we’ve settled it! I mean, there is in no way,” Haley emphasized.
“So, it’s done?” Baier pressed.
“I’ve said it for months; it’s done,” the former UN ambassador under Trump clarified. “Also, looking at a political future – I wouldn’t be doing this if I was worried about a political future. I would’ve gotten out already. I’m doing this trying to wake up our country.”
Meanwhile, a series of surveys in three battleground states show that Trump is widening his lead over President Joe Biden, with the election less than ten months away.
Emerson College’s initial poll looked at the Trump and Biden presidential contest in Georgia. It revealed Trump leading Biden by six points, with 48 percent of the respondents supporting Trump compared to Biden’s 42 percent. Additionally, 11 percent of respondents remained undecided.
The survey, conducted from February 14-16, 2024, among 1,000 registered voters, also indicated that Biden had a slight edge over Trump among independents, with 44 percent supporting Biden and 39 percent supporting Trump, though 18 percent remained undecided.
A second Emerson College survey taken on the same dates showed Trump leading Biden by 3 points in North Carolina, 47-44 percent, though 10 percent are undecided.
Trump’s lead over Biden widens when third-party candidates are taken into account. In this scenario, Trump leads with 46 percent support compared to Biden’s 37 percent. Additionally, five percent of the support goes to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., while one percent each goes to Cornel West and Jill Stein.
Emerson College noted further:
Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said, “A majority of voters under 30 break for President Biden over Trump, 53% to 35%, along with a plurality of voters in their 30s, 47% to 40%. Voters in their 40s are evenly split: 45% support each candidate. Voters over 50 support Trump over Biden, 52% to 40%. In addition, independent voters in North Carolina break for Trump over Biden, 43% to 40%.”
Importantly, a third poll — this one conducted by USA Today — found that Trump was leading Biden by 4 points in Michigan, a state he barely won in 2016 but then lost to Biden in 2020.
