Former president Donald Trump continued his winning streak in South Carolina today, prevailing over Nikki Haley within the fourth main election this yr. Tonight’s defeat got here in Haley’s house state.
Haley, a born-and-raised South Carolinian, served because the state’s governor from 2011 to 2017. Earlier than that, she was within the state’s Home of Representatives.
So why did she lose her personal state? Previous to Saturday’s election, I spoke with two faculty college students in regards to the resolution of their campus teams to again Trump over Haley in South Carolina. Their qualms with Haley outweighed any risk of supporting the native candidate.
Our conversations affirmed what I assumed: {that a} hometown benefit would not matter if you’re operating in opposition to Trump. Not solely do these college students bear in mind what life was like whereas Trump was in workplace, they’re contrasting it with the final 4 years of Biden and assume that Trump is the one one robust sufficient to defeat him come November. They do not have the identical familiarity with Haley, nor have they got confidence in her management.
South Carolina faculty college students dislike Nikki Haley’s observe file
For youthful Republican voters, the hometown connections weren’t sufficient to drag them away from Trump. In truth, her observe file throughout the state is a part of the explanation that some School Republican chapters selected to endorse the previous president forward of the state’s main.
Noah Lindler, the Vice President of College of South Carolina’s School Republicans chapter, mentioned the choice to endorse Trump was unanimous among the many membership’s govt board. Of their February 2 endorsement of Trump, the group mentioned they “miss when our border was being secured, terrorism was being rooted out and destroyed, and gasoline didn’t value an arm and a leg.”
“There’s all the time gonna be controversies with Donald Trump,” Lindler informed me. “Nonetheless, we have seen what his presidency appears like, we all know how good it was for America and we wish that once more.”
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He says that he and the membership analyzed the candidates primarily based on 5 points: gun rights, abortion, financial coverage, international support and immigration. The membership hosted watch events for the completely different debates and talked about them as a gaggle. They picked matters to correspond with every of the candidates: one assembly was about Vivek Ramaswamy as a younger conservative, one other centered on Haley as a average.
“A whole lot of us like Trump, like what he did when he was president,” Lindler mentioned. “And we noticed that, in comparison with what Nikki Haley was saying in the course of the debates and the best way she’s voted up to now, what she’s carried out in South Carolina.”
Even Republicans at Haley’s former college handed on her
Clemson College’s chapter additionally endorsed Trump. The transfer was vital, contemplating it is Haley’s alma mater.
“She continued to vow South Carolinians issues,” Jeanais Mitchell, the PR chair for the Clemson College School Republicans, mentioned of Haley in a telephone interview. “As a native-born, we hoped for the very best, however she simply by no means delivered.”
The Clemson chapter has been visibly supporting the previous president since October 2023, once they posted to Instagram about signing up college students to volunteer for the previous president at a tailgate. Their members telephone banked and knocked doorways for the Trump marketing campaign, assembly MAGA-verse celebrities like Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Jim Jordan, from Ohio, alongside the best way. Throughout her volunteer shift, Mitchell mentioned she talked to individuals who additionally appreciated Trump’s observe file, whereas pointing to points with Haley’s file within the state.
Democrats needs to be glad: Republicans want no part of Haley. If you want Biden to win, you should thank them for that.
Of their February 7 endorsement, the membership mentioned Trump “got here down on the D.C. establishment with a sledgehammer,” and that Haley was “purchased, bought, and owned by deranged billionaires.” The assertion additionally famous the “weaponization” of the justice system in opposition to the previous president; in our telephone name, Mitchell mentioned the lawsuits and felony expenses had been “a ploy to take his time and power.”
“Individuals might assume that that is Nikki Haley’s voter base,” she informed me. “It is actually, I feel, far more than that. The momentum that Trump has has been big, and I feel that is actually vital.”
Republicans object to Haley’s coverage file
Each Mitchell and Lindler talked about Haley’s file on taxes as causes they didn’t assist her. In 2006, Haley co-sponsored a bill within the South Carolina Normal Meeting that raised the state’s gross sales tax whereas slicing property taxes. As governor, she proposed a gas tax increase coupled with an earnings tax reduce that by no means got here to fruition.
There have been different considerations, as nicely. Lindler mentioned Haley appeared to favor militarization over diplomacy in debate questions on international affairs and famous that her marketing campaign has received donations from the left. He famous her shock look on “Saturday Night Live” as one other factor working in opposition to her, even if Trump hosted during his first campaign. Mitchell, in the meantime, disliked that Haley had gone again on her phrase; in 2022, she mentioned she would not run for president if Trump had been to hunt re-election.
Speaking to Trump supporters in South Carolina made it clear Haley had no probability
Wanting again on these conversations, it is arduous to see a world the place Haley would have received South Carolina. Trump’s branding nonetheless has a stronghold on conservatives, who can simply dismiss the pink flags in favor of what they see as the USA returning to what it’s alleged to be. Conversely, each of the faculty teams noticed Haley because the weaker candidate and held onto the methods they mentioned she’d let down conservative South Carolinians.
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For these two college students – first-time voters who noticed the Trump presidency, the 2020 election and every thing that got here after – there was a transparent favourite. And if Haley could not win over the younger, politically engaged voters in her house state, she was doomed earlier than the polls even opened.
The golf equipment’ Trump endorsements are in keeping with what the polls informed us. A Suffolk University/USA TODAY ballot from earlier within the week discovered that 63% of probably voters in South Carolina are for Trump, in comparison with the 35% supporting Haley. He has extra assist in all ages group, in addition to amongst each highschool and faculty graduates.
Presumably seeing that polling, Haley held a press conference this week to announce that she wouldn’t droop her marketing campaign if she misplaced South Carolina. She intends to remain within the race till a minimum of Tremendous Tuesday.
“Individuals have a proper to have their voices heard, they usually deserve an actual selection – not a Soviet-style election the place there’s just one candidate, and he will get 99% of the vote,” Haley mentioned Wednesday.
It is admirable that she plans to remain merely to supply voters a selection, however my conversations with the Republican faculty college students made it clear that Trump’s time within the White Home and his present messaging make him the extra interesting candidate.
Come Tremendous Tuesday, this will probably be obvious in half the nation. Haley might drop out of the race or she may maintain her phrase and maintain making an attempt. She has mentioned she needs to present Republican voters a selection.
The factor is, they’ve already made it. They need Trump.
Comply with USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X, previously Twitter, @sara__pequeno and Fb facebook.com/PequenoWrites.
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This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Haley lost the South Carolina primary. Young Republicans told me why
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