CNN Poll: Donald Trump Dominates in South Carolina with Majority Support, Ron DeSantis Comes in Third

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Hannah Knudsen

Former President Donald Trump is dominating in South Carolina polls with majority support, as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley comes 31 points behind, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slips to third place, the latest CNN poll found.

The survey found most likely Republican primary voters, 53 percent, identified Trump as their candidate of choice, and no other contender came remotely close. Haley came in a distant second, 31 points behind with 22 percent support in her home state.

DeSantis fell to third place in the early primary state, 11 points behind Haley with 11 percent support. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott also failed to have a strong showing in his home state, coming in fourth place with six percent support. Every other candidate listed saw two percent support or less.

The survey comes roughly four months away from the state’s primary contest, which is taking place on February 24, 2024. The CNN article, citing the survey’s results, observed that Trump has a solid base in the Palmetto State.

“An 82% majority of his current backers say that they’ll definitely support him. Just 42% of Haley’s supporters and 38% of DeSantis’ backers say they’re certain they won’t change their minds,” according to the report:

Many of the demographic and ideological divides present at the national level hold true in the state as well. Trump leads Haley by 50 percentage points among likely voters without a college degree (66% to 16%) and by 40 points among Republicans (59% to 19%). By contrast, Trump and Haley are tied among college graduates (32% support each) and see similar levels of support among independents who say they’re likely to vote in the GOP primary (38% back Trump, 34% Haley).

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The poll also finds that 80% of likely South Carolina GOP primary voters say they either currently support Trump or would consider supporting him, the broadest share of any candidate tested. Majorities also say they support or would consider supporting Haley (72%), Scott (72%) and DeSantis (68%). By contrast, majorities of likely GOP primary voters say they’ve ruled out entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (60%) and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (71%). Most (62%) had also ruled out former Vice President Mike Pence, who ended his campaign for president after the poll was completed.

The survey was taken October 18-25, 2023, days ahead of former Vice President Mike Pence formally dropping out of the GOP primary race.

RELATED: Mike Pence Drops out of 2024 Race at Republican Jewish Coalition

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The survey was taken among 1,140 South Carolina registered voters in the state, including 738 likely Republican primary voters. The margin of error for questions centering around Republican primary voters is +/- 4.8 percent.

Tuesday’s RealClearPolitics (RCP) polling average showed Trump up by an average of 30.2 percent in South Carolina with 49 percent support, followed by Haley with 18.8 percent and DeSantis with 10.5 percent.

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