Front-runner Donald Trump cruised to victory in the South Carolina Republican primary with the support of a nearly unwavering base of loyal voters.
But her rival Nikki Haley says she won't drop out of the US presidential race. Despite her loss in a state where she previously won two terms as governor, Haley said she will remain in the race at least until the Super Tuesday primary on March 5.
Let's look at the primary vote and what it means for the two candidates.
How did Trump win South Carolina?
Trump's victory in South Carolina was remarkably similar to his victories in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. It is a sign that the regional differences that once existed within the Republican Party have been supplanted by a national movement that largely revolves around the former president.
Trump, 77, won South Carolina with white voters without a college degree, one of his main voters. About two-thirds of Trump supporters in this election belonged to that group.
Most believe Trump is a candidate who can emerge victorious in the November general election, while only about half say the same about Haley. Voters were also much more likely to see Trump than Haley as someone who would “stand up and fight for people like you” and say he would keep the country safe. And about seven in 10 say he has the mental capacity to serve effectively as president.
Trump voters also endorsed his more nationalist views: They are more likely than Haley supporters to have lukewarm views on the NATO alliance or even consider it bad for the United States, to say that immigrants are harming the country and to say that immigration is the main problem facing the country. country.
Why did Haley say she's still in the race?
Haley has become the voice of a part of the Republican Party that feels rootless, those traditional-minded conservatives who backed presidential candidates like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney.
Haley is the closest thing they have to an advocate and advocate now, and at least for now, she retains a public platform to express her views.
“I'm not going to give up this fight when the majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” he said Saturday.
At 52 years old, Haley has opted to offer a generational replacement for the Republican Party. But the future she articulated has little basis in today's Republican Party. About four in 10 South Carolina Republicans (including about six in 10 of Trump supporters) say they have an unfavorable opinion of her.
Despite the outcome, Haley has vowed to continue her campaign.
“I said earlier this week that no matter what happened in South Carolina, I would continue to run for president,” Haley said in a speech to supporters in Charleston after her defeat. “I am a woman of my word.”
Haley insisted she would fight at least until “Super Tuesday” on March 5, when Republicans in 15 states and one U.S. territory will vote.
The reason he's still in the race is money, said Al Jazeera's Shihab Rittansi, reporting from Charleston.
“Although she has little prospect of winning any future elections, many donors are still willing to fund her because of their antipathy toward Donald Trump or to keep her in the race in case Trump's legal problems force him to drop out of the race. ”Rittansi said.
Most South Carolina voters consider themselves supporters of the “Make America Great Again” movement, a Trump slogan that helped catapult him to the White House in 2016.
Haley voters were much more divided: About half were motivated to support her, but nearly as many opposed Trump.
What are Trump's possible weaknesses?
Trump has an ironclad grip on the Republican base, but that coalition may not be enough to guarantee a victory in the November general election.
South Carolina was an opportunity to show that he can broaden his coalition beyond white, older, non-college-educated voters. But about nine in 10 of South Carolina's primary voters were white, making it difficult to see whether Trump has made any inroads among the black voters he has tried to win over.
Haley outperformed Trump among college-educated voters, a relative weakness for him that could matter in November as people with college degrees make up a growing share of the overall electorate. Although South Carolina Republican voters believe Trump can win in November, some were concerned about his viability.
About half of Republican voters in South Carolina – including about a quarter of his supporters – are worried that Trump is too extreme to win the general election.
About three in 10 voters believe he acted illegally in at least one of the criminal cases against him, although about seven in 10 believe the investigations are political attempts to undermine him.
Trump dominates among conservative voters. But their challenge is that those voters represented only 37 percent of the electorate in the November 2020 presidential election. The other 63 percent identified as moderate or liberal, the two categories Trump lost to Haley in South Carolina.
