


Donald Trump continues to hold a dominant lead over Nikki Haley in the South Carolina Republican primary race — despite her recent blitz of negative ads attacking her rival, according to internal polling conducted by the super PAC backing the former president.
Trump, 77, leads Nikki Haley by a more 2-to-1 margin in the Palmetto State, where the 52-year-old White House hopeful was born and raised and served as governor for six years, according to a poll released by Fabrizio, Lee and Associates on Tuesday.
“Nikki Haley and her D.C. establishment allies are spending millions of dollars to try and salvage a failed campaign that is unable to articulate a path to victory in South Carolina – or any other state for that matter,” a memo released by the polling firm alongside its survey findings reads.
“The ballot, which is statistically unchanged from our last survey, shows this effort is having no impact.”
The survey of 600 South Carolina voters, conducted between Jan. 28 and Jan. 29, found Trump leading Haley by a 35 point margin – 66% to 31%.

A majority of Trump supporters, 59%, responded that they would “definitely” be voting for the former president in the South Carolina primary, whereas only 24% of Haley supporters said the same.
Trump also leads by double digits amongst voters who believe Haley did a good job as South Carolina governor.
“Of the 69% who approve of her gubernatorial job performance, Trump still wins by a significant margin, 56%- 40%,” the pollster found.
Attack ads against Trump in South Carolina have also done little to win support for Haley.
Among the 59% of South Carolinians who have seen a negative ad targeting the former president, Trump leads 64% to Haley’s 33%.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) recent plea for Haley to stay in the race until at least Super Tuesday has also backfired on the former South Carolina governor, the poll found.
Only 17% of those polled have a favorable opinion of Cheney, while 58% have an unfavorable view of the former congresswoman.
As a result, Trump’s support stayed firm at 66%, whereas Haley’s backing dropped to 29% when voters were presented with the information about Cheney’s support for the former state governor.
“Despite her positive job approval and millions in attack ads against President Trump, Republican Primary voters in South Carolina remain unswayed by Haley’s weak attempts to change their minds,” the memo concludes. “South Carolina solidly remains Trump country.”
The South Carolina GOP primary will be held on Feb. 24.