Presidential races

Trump leads South Carolina as Graham support falls

by Ben Kamisar

Donald Trump leads the Republican field in South Carolina by a strong margin as he continues to post strong leads over his GOP presidential rivals. 

{mosads}Trump has the backing of 30 percent of likely Republican primary voters in the Palmetto State, double that of second-place finisher Ben Carson’s 15 percent in Monmouth University’s new poll released Monday. 

The two political outsiders are the only candidates who polled in the double digits; more than six in 10 polled said they want a “president from the outside of government who can bring a new approach to Washington.”

“Political experience is not a particularly valuable commodity this primary season,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement with the poll’s release. 

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush takes third place with 9 percent of the vote, followed by Sen. Marco Rubio’s (Fla.) 6 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Carly Fiorina’s 5 percent, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s 4 percent.  

The state’s longtime senator, Lindsey Graham, fell to eighth place, tied with Walker at 4 percent. Earlier polling by NBC News and Public Policy Polling from February found Graham strongly in the hunt for the primary victory, but his lead has evaporated. Graham’s favorable scores are under water in his home state — 50 percent view him unfavorably compared to just 35 percent who hold a favorable view of him in the new Monmouth poll.

Trump chided Graham on Twitter for his showing in his home state, noting that Graham is trailing him by 26 percentage points.   

While Trump is typically saddled with low favorability ratings, the South Carolina Republican primary electorate holds him in strong esteem with a 58 percent favorable rating. Just 28 percent view him unfavorably.  

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, holds the best favorability score out of those tested, while Rubio, Fiorina, Walker and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.) hold net favorability scores greater than or equal to Trump.

Bush, Cruz, Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.), Gov. John Kasich (Ohio), former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), and former Gov. Rick Perry (Texas) all have positive favorability scores. Graham, Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.), and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) are the three major candidates with underwater favorability scores. 

Monmouth polled 453 likely primary voters with a margin of error of 4.6 percent.