No home advantage for Haley
Trump wins Republican primary in South Carolina
February 25, 2024, 1:17 a.m
Donald Trump wins the next state in the race for the Republican presidential nomination: According to US media, he is ahead of Nikki Haley, who was former governor there, in South Carolina. All she has left now is hope for “Super Tuesday” at the beginning of March.
Former US President Donald Trump has won the primary election for the Republican presidential nomination in the state of South Carolina. This was reported by the AP news agency and the channel CNN agreed, citing their own forecasts. As expected, Trump’s last remaining competitor, Nikki Haley, suffered a defeat in the conservative state.
Haley, who is considered to be more politically moderate and rhetorically more moderate than Trump, had hoped for a home advantage in South Carolina. The 52-year-old was born in the state in the southeast of the USA and was the first woman to serve as governor there from 2011 to 2017. South Carolina is about the size of Austria and has more than five million inhabitants. Around a quarter of the population is black. The South Carolina primary was the first vote in a southern US state.
Trump was already almost 30 percentage points ahead of Haley in polls in South Carolina. In national polls he leads by an even clearer margin. The former US ambassador to the United Nations Haley is given little chance of ultimately prevailing against Trump. However, she has not yet wanted to admit defeat. Trump has also won the previous primaries in the states of Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
Haley’s last hope: Super Tuesday
Trump supporters have long been urging Haley to drop out of the party’s internal race. Before the vote in South Carolina, Haley made it clear once again that the race was far from over and that she did not want to give up. Now special attention is on March 5th, the so-called Super Tuesday. On this day, Republican primaries will be held simultaneously in 15 states.
Trump’s victory in Haley’s homeland once again underlines the Republican’s support among the party base. Despite his numerous legal problems, he has not lost any of his popularity among his supporters. There are currently four criminal proceedings against the ex-president, including because of his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
The victory in South Carolina makes Trump’s candidacy for the Republicans in the presidential election on November 5th more likely. In the internal party primaries, the number of delegate votes up for grabs varies depending on the party and state. How primaries are held varies from state to state. Democrats and Republicans each follow their own system. In South Carolina, party supporters decided on their favorite at polling stations on Saturday. In a few other states, voting takes place at small party meetings, so-called caucuses. The Republican nomination convention will take place in mid-July.