South Carolina Voters on Saturday go to the polls, deciding between former President Donald Trump or their former governor, Nikki Haley.
Polls close at 7 p.m. ET and after that the votes will be counted and the winner will be announced. Haley plans to speak once the winner is announced. Trump is holding a watch party in South Carolina where he is likely to speak as well.
South Carolina is holding an open primary, meaning voters of any party can vote in the Republican primary if they haven’t already voted in the Democratic primary, which President Joe Biden won on Feb. 3.
As South Carolinians head to the polls, Trump has a roughly 30-point lead over Haley, according to a February survey by USA Today and Suffolk University, dashing any hope of a home court advantage.
Would Haley’s loss end the qualifiers?
Haley vowed Tuesday to stay in the race at least until Super Tuesday on March 5, regardless of the results in South Carolina. Her campaign confirmed it has the funding to keep it afloat after a record month of fundraising in January.
“We have the resources to go far,” a Haley campaign spokesman told CNBC on Tuesday.
Republican candidates need 1,215 representatives to secure the nomination. Trump currently has 63 to Haley’s 17. As long as Haley doesn’t drop out, the Republican primary will continue to be a two-person race, much to Trump’s chagrin.
But even with her funding and determination, Haley’s campaign faces a steep path forward.
Haley’s campaign tempered expectations last week, arguing that she doesn’t need to win South Carolina to build momentum for future primaries. The former UN ambassador has yet to win a race this primary season, though she managed a narrower defeat of Trump in New Hampshire due to the state’s large population of undeclared voters.
South Carolina is much less indecisive. Along with his lead in the polls, Trump has the endorsements of local South Carolina GOP chapters, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mays and other state lawmakers. Trump also has a healthy record in the Palmetto State, having won the 2016 GOP primary and taking 55% of the vote in 2020 over Joe Biden.
Where are the candidates in South Carolina’s top issues?
South Carolinians have immigration and the economy on their minds as they vote, mirroring sentiment nationwide. According to the February USA Today/Suffolk University poll, 42% of likely South Carolina GOP voters see immigration as the most important issue, while 26% prioritize the economy.
Trump has made immigration a central pillar of his campaign so far, pledging to revive immigration bans and carry out militarized mass deportations that he plans to make far more aggressive than in his first term in the White House.
Despite his tough approach to border security, Trump simultaneously worked behind the scenes to prevent a bipartisan congressional border deal that would have provided $20 billion in border funding.
Trump reportedly told Republican lawmakers to torpedo the bill to continue criticizing Biden and Haley over their immigration positions on the campaign trail.
Haley criticized Trump for derailing the bill: “Donald Trump, the last thing he should be doing is telling them to wait to pass the border deal until after the election.”
Haley herself has a hardline record on immigration, despite the Trump campaign’s efforts to paint her as weak on the issue. He said he would defund sanctuary cities, close the border and deport unauthorized immigrants.
Under the Biden administration, South Carolina’s economy has improved.
Unemployment in the state is at 3%, up from 3.3% a year ago and below the national average of 3.7%. The state was also a major beneficiary of Biden Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which has channeled investments in electric vehicles that have created more than 12,000 jobs so far. Inflation in the state is slowly cooling to 4.3% against the national rate of 3.1%.
However, both Trump and Haley have repeatedly criticized Biden’s economy. Their economic agendas both tend to include similar rhetoric about cutting trade with China and cutting taxes.
Haley’s financial platform, dubbed the Freedom Designfocuses on tax breaks for the middle class, boosting small businesses and eliminating Biden’s $500 billion investment in clean energy projects that South Carolina has benefited from.
Trump would also roll back Biden’s IRA, restore first-time tax cuts that mostly benefited the wealthy, and impose significant tax increases on foreign goods, especially to curb trade with China. During his first term, Trump’s tariffs on China nearly started a trade war, which has disrupted the global economy and driven prices higher for consumers.