Trump leads Nikki Haley by 29 points in her home state South Carolina

Former President Donald Trump is leading presidential candidate Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina in a recent poll.  

According to an Emerson College poll released on January 5, Trump is leading Haley 54 to 25 points among voters. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in third with 7, followed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie with five and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy with three.  

Haley has a four-point edge among independent voters in comparison to Trump, at 37 to 34 percent, however, among Republicans she is behind at 21 percent to Trump's 62 percent.  

Trump is leading Haley in all age groups in the poll, but she performs better among postgraduate degrees by one point.  

Spencer Kimball, the Executive Director of Emerson College polling, said that "perception of the most important issue facing the state varies by party," according to the poll.  

For Republicans in South Carolina, 49 percent of them view the economy as being the most important issue facing the country, followed by immigration at 19 percent.  

Among Democrats, only 28 percent view the economy as the most important issue while 16 percent say healthcare and 12 percent view 'threats to democracy' as the most important thing going on.  

The poll was conducted between Jan. 2 and 3 of 2024 and sampled 1,046 voters in the Palmetto State and has a margin of error of 3 percent. Questions regarding the Republican primary were asked to 584 GOP voters in the state and has a margin of error of 4 percent, and Democrat questions were asked to 320 voters with a margin of error of 5.4 percent.

Nationally, Trump leads ahead in the Republican primary with 62.7 points in the Real Clear Politics polling average as of Friday. In a head-to-head for the election.  

Other recent polls for the presidential race show Trump up against President Joe Biden in key swing states to win the election such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia.  

In addition to recent polls showing Trump leading in important states, one of the first major polls of 2024 from USA Today and Suffolk found that Trump has been leading in the youth and Hispanic voting blocks.