Trump leads GOP field in South Carolina by 22 points: poll

Former President Trump leads a field of current and potential Republican presidential candidates in South Carolina by 22 points over his next-closest possible challenger, according to a new poll. 

A National Public Affairs poll, which was first reported by Politico, found that Trump holds a comfortable lead with support from 43 percent of the likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina who were surveyed, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 21 percent. 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who also served as ambassador to the United Nations, came in a close third place with 19 percent, while South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott came in fourth with 7 percent. 

The remaining individuals included in the poll received 2 percent or less. 

Trump and Haley have officially announced their bids to run for the White House in 2024, while Scott has set up an exploratory committee ahead of a possible run. DeSantis has not officially announced but has been widely rumored to be a potential candidate. 

South Carolina’s position as one of the first states to vote during the Republican primaries and caucuses could make winning the state’s primary key in competing for the GOP nomination. 

Pollsters found Trump has more supporters solidly behind him than any other candidate, with 40 percent of respondents saying they would almost certainly consider voting for him. DeSantis, Haley and Scott each had about or almost a fifth of respondents say they would almost certainly consider voting for them. 

But more than 40 percent of respondents each also said they would at least somewhat consider voting for DeSantis, Haley and Scott, while 26 percent said they would somewhat consider voting for Trump.

The pollsters also conducted correlations to determine which candidates would benefit the most from a candidate dropping out or a potential candidate not running. They found that Haley and Scott are the most correlated, so one would benefit the most from the other not being in the race. 

They also found DeSantis has the most potential for growth in the poll because he has positive correlations with other high-performing candidates. 

The poll was conducted among 538 likely South Carolina Republican primary voters from April 11 to 14. The margin of error was 4.2 points.