Republicans in South Carolina are casting their votes today for their party's nominee for president. Will former President Donald Trump add to his growing delegate count with another dominant victory? Or will Nikki Haley's home-state advantage help propel her to a surprisingly strong finish? CNN Correspondent Kylie Atwood, who has been covering Haley's campaign, opens her reporter's notebook to give us a sense of what's top of mind for voters, how the candidates have been courting them and what we can expect ahead.
This is Nikki Haley's home turf. Might that be an advantage in a race that Trump has dominated so far?
You would think so! But it actually doesn't seem that Haley's home-state advantage is going to give her a major boost. Last week in her hometown of Bamberg, I met some of Haley's childhood friends supporting her, and I have also met a handful of voters who have been with her since she was governor. They are proud of her, and energized by her candidacy. But it doesn't feel like there are many of them. Meanwhile, the state has a very solid base of Trump supporters, including many of the state's lawmakers. Haley also has not been on the ballot in South Carolina in 10 years. By contrast, Trump has been on the ballot twice in that period of time. And while Haley has a record of accomplishments in South Carolina from her time as governor, Trump has a record of accomplishments from when he was president. I have talked to numerous voters who say they like Haley, and thought she was a good governor… but they really liked Trump as president, and they are determined to see him in the Oval Office again.
How has she battled against the perception that her party has already rallied behind Trump?
Haley has pointed out that Trump lost 49% of the vote in Iowa and lost 46% of the vote in New Hampshire. She says that shows that almost half of GOP voters are not with him. And when it comes to GOP lawmakers rallying around Trump, Haley often says that she never expected the political elites to be with her, and that she doesn't want their support. She argues that the policies she has backed - such as forcing the votes of South Carolinian lawmakers to be on the record and pushing for mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old - have prompted elected officials to oppose her. Haley also made a point this week to note that she knows Republican officials who have publicly backed Trump but privately "dread him."
How have the candidates been trying to appeal to voters?
Haley has spent a lot of time campaigning in South Carolina over the last month, with a mixture of small, medium and large events. She has called Trump and Biden too old and too divisive. She has aggressively gone after Trump on a number of fronts including siding with Putin and using campaign contributions to pay his legal bills and promised that she would bring back normalcy. Haley has also repeatedly pointed to polls showing that she would do better than Trump in a general election race against President Biden.
Trump has had three campaign rallies in South Carolina since the New Hampshire primary and thousands of supporters showed up. Trump used a rally to attack Haley, saying that she has the backing of "the radical-left Democrats" and mocked the absence of her husband, who is deployed overseas. And while Haley and her allies have significantly outspent Trump when it comes to advertising in the state, in the lead-up to the primary Trump has gone up with ads going after Haley on immigration and the gas tax.
What are some of the issues Republican voters say are top of mind in this election?
Immigration is a big one. Just this week I spoke with a handful of supporters of Haley at her Clemson rally and they all said that being tough on immigration was a top issue for them. I have also met Trump supporters who say the same thing. The other issue that comes up a lot is age. Across the board, Republican voters think that Biden is too old and diminished to be president, and some of them agree with Haley that Trump is also too old. And one thing I have been hearing in recent days is voters backing Haley's tough on Russia position, particularly after Trump has not blamed Putin for Navalny's death and said that he would support Putin invading NATO countries that do not live up to their defense spending commitment.
What impact will the results have on the presidential race?
Some might anticipate that another loss for Haley - which is expected given recent polls showing her behind Trump by roughly 30 points - would trigger the end of her campaign, especially because South Carolina is her home state. And it is fair to say that a big loss here will be devastating for her, given how much time and resources she has put into the state. But this week Haley committed to keeping her campaign alive through Super Tuesday, no matter what happens on Saturday. Based on that commitment, the results are unlikely to dramatically change the dynamics of this race because Haley does not view the results here as life or death for her campaign. Next week, Haley has said she will still be challenging Trump and it will still be incredibly hard to attract enough support to overtake Trump's commanding lead in the primary. But Trump's margin of victory will matter because if Haley gets blown out of the water in South Carolina she could have trouble raising enough money to continue fueling her campaign.
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