Sean Rayford/AFP via Getty Images
Nearly two-thirds of likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina said in a recent poll they prefer former President Donald Trump as the presidential nominee over former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, despite it being her home state.
The poll, taken between February 15-18 and published Monday by Suffolk University in partnership with USA Today, found that 63% of respondents support Trump in his bid for reelection over the former governor of the state, Haley. In total, only 35% of respondents said they supported the local Clemson University graduate.
The survey's results loosely mirror the state of the race to obtain the Republican Party's nomination, where Trump possesses a massive advantage. According to an average of national polling from FiveThirtyEight, the former chief executive has around a 61 percentage point lead over Haley.
South Carolina's primary on Saturday comes just over two weeks after Haley lost the Nevada Republican primary to "None of These Candidates" and Trump took all of the state's delegates via the GOP's caucus. Prior to Nevada, Haley finished 11 percentage points behind Trump in New Hampshire and in third place — more than 30 percentage points behind him — in Iowa.
Haley is scheduled to give a "state of the race" speech at her alma mater on Monday at noon ET, four days before South Carolina's primary. Ahead of the address, she told the AP she plans on staying in the race at least through Super Tuesday.
The Suffolk University/USA Today poll also found that when respondents were asked what they thought was the "most important issue facing the country today," the most common selection chosen was "immigration and security," bringing in just over 42% support.
A bipartisan Senate group recently unveiled a bill designed to address both foreign aid and immigration reform, though congressional Republicans killed it at the behest of Trump.
