President Joe Biden trails behind both Donald Trump and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in hypothetical two-way matchups in South Carolina, new poll results published last Wednesday showed.
Biden’s Job Performance Hits Prospects: If a face-off were to take place between Biden and Trump, 50% would choose Trump compared to 35% who would pick Biden, according to the survey of 1,717 registered voters in South Carolina that took place in early February. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.58%.
Seven percent said they would vote for someone else, 5% said they would not vote, and 3% were unsure, with 1% refusing to answer.
A Biden vs. Haley matchup would also not be in favor of the current president, with only 29% picking him over Haley. The former South Carolina governor, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., took away 47% of the votes. Those saying they would choose someone else, would not vote and were unsure accounted for 9%, 8% and 5% of the respondents, respectively.
The margin by which Trump led Biden among the voters was 15 points, narrower than the 18-point lead Haley had over Biden.
Biden’s weak performance comes amid a negative assessment of his job as president. Fifty-eight percent of registered voters disapprove of his job as president, with 90% of Republicans and 17% of Democrats unhappy over his performance as leader.
Trump Vs. Haley: With just days to go for the Republican presidential primary in South Carolina, 64.9% of the registered voters, comprising of Republicans, Republican-leaning independents, and independent voters, have sided with the former president compared with 28.7% who favor Haley.
Pure independents, however, were more evenly split, with 42.3% supporting Haley and 42.6% backing Trump. GOP voters have stood mostly by Trump, with 72% saying they would vote for him.
Dr. Scott Huffmon, director of the Winthrop poll, said, “On the heels of Trump's victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the culling of the field of candidates, Trump's lead among those likely to show up at the polls on February 24 has increased to 36%.”
“Haley shows strength among Independent Likely Voters but will need to convince many more Independents who are sitting on the fence regarding participation to show up on February 24 in order to cut into Trump's lead. Trump's dominance among strong Republicans and self-identified Evangelicals will be hard to overcome.”
Trump’s showing is impressive as he has managed to galvanize voters despite the legal overhangs he is facing. As recently as last week, he received an unfavorable ruling in the New York civil fraud case and was hit with a $355 million fine.
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