Donald Trump Continues to Lead in SC

In a head-to-head match-up, 42% of GOP primary voters say Donald Trump is the Republican candidate most likely to beat Hillary Clinton in the general election next year. Graham, the first SC politician to run for president in three decades, remains near the back of the 14-candidate pack for the nomination in other early-primary states, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Trump leads among both men and women.

Winthrop Poll surveyed 828 likely S.C. Republican presidential primary voters from November 30 through Monday in a survey with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percent. He receives 32% of support, almost double that of Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who score 16% each.

Donald Trump holds a commanding lead nationwide over his Republican rivals, according to a New York Times/CBS News nationwide poll.

Got that? A plurality of GOP voters in SC were already rallying behind Trump, but after hearing about his anti-Muslim bigotry, Trump’s support went up, not down.

Trump lags the field when it comes to overall favorability – 49% have favorable views of Trump compared to about 75% for Carson, 59% for Cruz, 58% for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The Donald has 24% and Jeb Bush is a close second with 19% from those saying they wouldn’t back him. He has more than a 20-point lead among non-college graduates (and a smaller lead among those with a college degree).

“Trump’s support is high among those who express anger – as opposed to frustration or contentment – with the government”. The poll was conducted December 5-8, 2015, by telephone with live interviewers among a random sample of 801 SC voters selected from a statewide voter file.

This is consistent with an online Bloomberg Politics poll that found roughly two-thirds of Republican primary voters nationwide agree with the GOP candidate’s plan to ban Muslims from entering the country.