By Raul Castillo
Feb 25, 2024, 3:14 PM EST
Nikki Haley was dealt a hard blow on Saturday in the primary in her home state of South Carolina, with a 20-point loss to former President Donald Trump. Although Haley managed to widely capture the vote of liberals and independents in the state, the key to her extensive defeat was that the Republicans, the main electoral base of the state, turned their backs on her forcefully and supported the former president. Trump.
The former governor, according to an NBC News exit poll, overwhelmingly won voters who identify as moderate or liberal, earning the support of 72% of them, compared to Trump’s 27%.
However, this segment of voters only represents a fifth of the state’s total voters, according to the media.
On the other hand, the former ambassador to the UN defeated Trump by 19 points among voters who consider themselves independent, who represent 21% of the electorate. While 8 in 10 of South Carolina voters who believe President Joe Biden won cleanly in 2020 voted for Haley, according to the NBC News exit poll.
These results reflect Haley’s success in moderating her speech to rally the anti-Trump vote, even among Democrats. However, it is also a reflection that this is insufficient to defeat the former president, whose leadership is widely supported by Republican Party voters.
Thus, according to the outlet’s exit poll, Trump got 72% of the votes among Republicans, compared to Haley’s 28%. 68% of South Carolina’s primary electorate is registered with the Republican Party.
Very conservative with Trump
Among Republicans, those most supportive of the former president were very conservative voters (85%), white evangelicals (74%), military veterans (67%) and 88% of the nearly half of Republican primary voters who say be part of the MAGA movement.
On the other hand, one of the main factors that explain Haley’s failure in the Republican primaries is that voters’ main concerns are precisely issues that Trump carries as his banner: immigration and the economy.
Among the 37% of voters who said immigration was their top issue, Trump got 82%, while Haley only got 18%, according to the NBC News exit poll. And among the 33% of voters who said the economy was their top issue, Trump won 64% to Haley’s 36%.
Keep reading:
- Donald Trump celebrated Nikki Haley’s defeat in South Carolina: “We have a lot of work ahead of us”
- Nikki Haley will not abandon the primaries despite defeat in South Carolina: “I am a woman of my word”
- Joe Biden asks for support to defeat Donald Trump, “a threat to the future” of the United States