Haley’s Polling Numbers Worsen Ahead Of Home State Primary
Despite her close personal ties to the state where she once served as governor, long-shot 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley appears poised for a devastating defeat in the upcoming South Carolina primary.
Although front-runner Donald Trump has long maintained a sizable lead over Haley in the Palmetto State, that chasm has only widened in recent days.
According to the latest FAU/Mainstreet Research survey, two-thirds of voters said they would cast a ballot for the former president — representing a staggering 45-point lead for Trump.
📊 2024 South Carolina GOP Primary
• Donald Trump — 67% (+45)
• Nikki Haley — 22%• @FAUpolling | @MainStResearch
• February 1-8 | 379 Likely voters https://t.co/BMA4yqU3AB pic.twitter.com/Ac1RCcpO2e— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) February 13, 2024
The bad polling news comes on the heels of her disappointing performance in the Nevada primary, where, without Trump on the ballot, she lost to the “none of these candidates” option by a more than two-to-one margin.
Trump took to social media to skewer his rival, writing: “A bad night for Nikki Haley. Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada to ‘None of These Candidates.’ Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!”
Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney, however, downplayed the impact of the embarrassing result, insisting that “Nevada is not and has never been our focus” and adding that the campaign remained “focused on South Carolina.”
Given Haley’s dismal performance in her home state’s polls, however, it remains to be seen whether she will keep her promise to stay in the race until at least the Super Tuesday primaries set for next month.
Although the 45-point deficit recorded in the FAU/Mainstreet Research poll is larger than some other surveys, it is far from an anomaly. The latest CBS News poll, for example, shows Trump with a 35-point advantage over Haley.
As Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung recently responded to Haley’s lackluster performance by declaring that she “has no path to the nomination no matter how many Democrats she attempts to win over.”
Trump himself responded to Haley’s plummeting poll numbers.
“Tricky Nikki is CRASHING in the Polls,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “She is 15 points down to Crooked Joe Biden, and I’m crushing him in all Polls.”
Determining that Haley has “no reason to make it to the South Carolina Primary,” he cited the dismal attendance at a recent rally compared to the overflow crowd his event in the state drew last week.