The 2016 South Carolina Republican Primary: Results from the Early Voting Period and State-Dependent Electorate Lyman-Gov. David Haley
In 2016, more than 750,000 voters – a state GOP record – participated in South Carolina’s Republican primary, according to state figures. During the early voting period, voters cast 205,000 ballots, more than any other primary this year.
Haley, who was elected twice as governor in the state, has yet to win a presidential contest. In South Carolina, most polling has shown her lagging significantly behind former President Donald Trump — who has far and away been the party’s front-runner throughout this entire race.
The four different political regions are the Columbia area, the Piedmont, the Pee Dee and the Upstate. In the 2016 election, Trump won the primary with 34.5%, and it was spread out, with all but two counties going to him. He lost two counties, which are both home to Columbia, the state capital.
Since the New Hampshire primary last month, Haley’s campaign, SFA Fund Inc. and the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity Action have dominated the airwaves in South Carolina. They’ve spent $14.2 million compared to $845,00 for Trump.
Independents in South Carolina can vote in the primary, according to Haley’s team. In the South Carolina GOP primary, most of the voters were Republicans.
In Iowa, 82% of caucusgoers identified as Republicans, and Trump won there by 30 percentage points. In New Hampshire, 50% of primary voters identified as Republicans and he won by 11 points.
The 2016 Super Tuesday Election, Nikki Haley, SFA Fund, and the Making of South Carolina: The Pedestrian’s Voice
She’ll be facing even more challenges after South Carolina, so before looking beyond that state, take a look at how it all works.
Campaign ad spending crossed the $300 million threshold this week and a super PAC supporting Haley, SFA Fund Inc., has led the way, spending more than $63 million.
There is a wealthy section of the right of center who are willing to invest a lot of money to get Trump out of the race.
“I have a lot of concerns about Trump regaining the presidency,” she said. “I have even more concerns about Joe Biden being president. The men have done nothing but give us chaos, and all they have done is give us division.
Haley’s argument that she is the best candidate to defeat Biden has not been received well by base Republican voters. No single day of the year will be closer to the national primaries than Super Tuesday, because Trump leads by more than 60 points in national polls.
“But this has never been about who can win a Republican primary,” said Betsy Ankney on the call, “even though the math is challenging.” This battle is about who can win in November, defeat the Democrats and finally get our country back on track.”
There are 15 states and one territory where voters can go to the polls to vote for their preferred candidate on Super Tuesday, March 5. It’s an expensive endeavor to try and win over voters in that many states, and the demographics of those states don’t line up in Haley’s favor.
Acknowledging the race is an uphill climb, Nikki Haley’s campaign Friday said it will be launching a “seven-figure” national cable and digital ad buy that will take it through at least Super Tuesday.
She said she’d keep campaigning until the last person votes. She told NPR she would stay in even though Super Tuesday is on March 5.
“I haven’t actually sat down and thought about what comes after that,” Haley said. The goal was to get more representation for people in the states that have voted, so that people’s voices are heard.
Nikki Haley’s last push isn’t going to win: South Carolina primary voters’ endorsements vs. candidate candidates
The diner is often a hub for local activity, hosting events for politicians including Haley in the past. Today though, it’s a construction zone, as the town recovers from a major tornado that tore through in January.
Dyches said the roof blew off when the restaurant flooded. But she was happy to host a few residents from the area, who gathered around a table to talk about Haley’s last push before the primary.
Sharon Carter, who invited the group, is chairwoman of the Bamberg County Republican Party. She is not endorsed by any candidate in the state’s primary on Saturday.
“It is astonishing to me that people are choosing Trump in her hometown,” Carter said. She is an authentically real person because people who know her know that.
Boyce says Haley – who’s also a former ambassador to the United Nations – was a good governor for South Carolina during the six years she led the state.
But Boyce opposed her work to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina statehouse in 2015, in the aftermath of the racist shooting that left nine people dead at a historically Black church in Charleston.
He said he’s as southern as you get. “But that’s a thing of the past. And it stood for, whether you like to hear it or not, it stood for slavery. It stood for racism. It stood for division in our country.”
Source: In Nikki Haley’s hometown, support is strong. But that doesn’t mean she’ll win
The Battleground of Nikki Haley, President Donald J. Trump and Tameen Crosby- Lee, Maryland, in the Next Senate Primary
Crosby- Lee and her mother were near a local lunch spot on Thursday. She wishes Haley would help the town’s economy. But she sees value in Haley continuing her campaign, even if she can’t ultimately beat Trump.
Mary Jane remembers Haley as a “well-mannered” child who became an “amazing young lady” who’s made her home state proud. She contrasts Haley’s temperament with Trump’s.
“He did some good things for America, but he is just such a bully,” she says. “And well, he does not have any characteristics that we want any of our grandchildren to have.”
Mary Jane Maxwell says she has supported Trump in the past, but she doesn’t think she could vote for him again. Randy Maxwell says he’s never voted for Trump and never will.
He says that it will not look good for her. If you do not win your home state, it won’t look good for you. They’re not going to change because Trump has so much base.
Former President Donald J. Trump and Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, will face off in the state’s Republican primary on Saturday. Polls shows Mr. Trump with a wide lead.
As we saw in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary last month, the speed of a race call can give the victor — in both of those cases Mr. Trump — a sense of momentum, even an air of inevitability. Iowa was called for Mr. Trump before the caucuses had even ended.
An early night for the two remaining candidates will say a lot about where the race is heading as they turn to Michigan next week ahead of Super Tuesday on March 5, when 15 states will vote to award 874 of 2,429 Republican delegates.
Poll after poll has found that most Americans do not relish a rematch between President Biden and Mr. Trump, the major party nominees in 2020. Mr. Biden received more than 100 percent of the vote in the South Carolina Democratic primary. A low turnout that was always predicted was 132,302 people.
How South Carolinians Live: What Happened to Governor Haley and the Upstate, the Midlands, and the Lowcountry?
South Carolinians like to divide themselves into three sections: the Upstate around Greenville and Spartanburg, where the question is, what church do you belong to?; the Midlands, dominated by the state capital, where the question is, what agency do you work for?; and the mellower Lowcountry of Charleston and the coast, where the question is, what do you drink?
That leaves the Lowcountry, where affluent Republicans fix up 19th-century mansions in Charleston and Beaufort, golf on Hilton Head or build sumptuous beach houses in the Charleston suburbs of Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island — and where Ms. Haley lives, on Kiawah Island. The Lowcountry should be Haley country.
But a surge of newcomers — the largest cohort from New York and New Jersey — has swelled more middle-class, inland suburbs around Charleston, as well as in Horry County, home to Myrtle Beach. They weren’t around for Governor Haley.
How this region votes will speak to Mr. Trump’s appeal to the educated, affluent Republicans who used to control the party and with suburbanites not influenced by their prior experience with Haley.