Trump leads Haley in South Carolina primary poll despite home state advantage

WASHINGTON (TND) — We are just weeks away from the South Carolina primary, and a new poll shows former president Donald Trump holds a large lead over Nikki Haley.

A Washington Post-Monmouth poll shows Trump has support from 58% of potential Republican voters in South Carolina and Haley has 32%.

South Carolina is Haley’s home state; she served as governor there for six years. Her campaign said many people in the state don’t know her and need to be reintroduced.

The path has always been to do well in Iowa, come out of Iowa, do better in New Hampshire, and then move on to South Carolina,” explained Jennifer Nassour, a campaign surrogate for Nikki Haley for President. “Everyone always wants to win, but at the end of the day in the game of politics, it’s steady wins the race.

The strategy is to keep engaging voters and telling them Haley’s vision for America, and Nassour said her poll numbers will continue to go up.

Meanwhile, Team Trump hosted press conferences in South Carolina on what they call Haley’s failures.

“I was serving on county council almost 10 years ago when we had to tell Nikki Haley by resolution to stop supporting Obama’s refugee resettlement program,” said Republican South Carolina Representative Stewart Jones, R-14th District.

The events were largely aimed at Haley’s alleged weakness on illegal immigration.

The Post-Monmouth poll shows 62% of voters think Trump would be more trusted to handle immigration. He also won on economic policy and foreign policy.

However, the pair are close on the issue of abortion with 33% saying they trust the two equally.

In a recent interview with NBC News, Haley said she did not have to win her home state but needs momentum.

The South Carolina Republican presidential primary is on Feb. 24.