On 2024 South Carolina GOP primary election day, does former Gov. Nikki Haley have the pull to beat Trump?
WASHINGON (CBS NEWS)– Nikki Haley appears poised to lose in her home state as she goes up against former President Donald Trump in South Carolina’s 2024 Republican primary on Saturday, but she has vowed to press forward in the GOP nomination contest whatever the outcome.
A home-state advantage hasn’t translated into a lead in the polls for the former U.N. ambassador and governor of South Carolina, who has argued that Trump faces an electability problem, given his legal troubles, and surrounds himself with chaos. Nearly two-thirds of likely GOP primary voters said in a recent CBS News poll before the primary that they would vote for Trump, with Haley trailing by double digits.
A number of South Carolina politicians, whose careers were once helped by Haley’s support, are backing Trump. The former president also benefits from the state’s conservative evangelical voter base.
Still, Haley predicted it would be a “close” and “competitive” race and has vowed to stay in the competition for the long haul, framing it as a race between David and Goliath.
“Dropping out would be the easy route,” she said Tuesday in a major speech in Greenville, South Carolina, announcing she had no plans to end her campaign. “I’ve been the underdog in every race I’ve ever run. I’ve always been David taking on Goliath. And like David, I’m not just fighting someone bigger than me. I’m fighting for something bigger than myself.”
“What he just did was put all of our allies in danger and every military service person who’s serving,” she said Monday in Camden, South Carolina. “I don’t know why he keeps getting weak in the knees when it comes to Russia.”
She has also accused Trump of trying to “take” the 2024 election by endorsing his daughter-in-law to serve as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
In Tuesday’s speech, Haley called Trump “unstable and unhinged,” said he’s “getting meaner and more offensive” and is “taking out his anger on others.”
Trump has returned the jabs.
His campaign characterized Haley as a “wailing loser hell-bent on an alternative reality.” While campaigning in the state earlier this month, Trump mocked Haley over the absence of her husband, who is deployed with the South Carolina Army National Guard in Africa.
