Poll: Trump trouncing Haley, Scott in South Carolina

Former President Donald Trump has gained more support for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination from South Carolina Republican voters than former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott in their home state, a Winthrop University poll released Wednesday shows.

Trump was the top pick among 41 percent of respondents. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has yet to declare his candidacy, though he is widely expected to — came in second with 20 percent and Haley came in third with 18 percent.

Seven percent of respondents support a presidential nomination for Scott. The South Carolina senator has not announced that he’s running for the GOP ticket in 2024, but he officially launched his presidential exploratory committee Wednesday.

The poll comes as Trump is the first former president to ever be criminally charged for his alleged role in a hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Still, Republicans overall believe Trump is being unfairly targeted, according to pre-indictment poll numbers.

Five percent of respondents support former Vice President Mike Pence, 2 percent support former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and 1 percent support New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Winthrop University polled 1,657 adults in South Carolina, which included 485 Republicans who are registered to vote. The margin of error of the poll was plus or minus 2.41 percentage points and plus or minus 4.45 percentage points among Republican voters.