US Presidential Election: Decisive vote for Trump and Haley in the Republican Party nomination race

After the states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the Virgin Islands, the Republican primaries to nominate their presidential nominee begin their fifth phase on Saturday in South Carolina. A vote that could actually be decisive.

During the first votes, former President Donald Trump actually won 63 of the 90 delegates at stake, thanks to scores that exceeded 50% every time… including when all of his opponents were still in the race. This prompted the majority of them to withdraw from the race, most notably Ron Santis, who was seen as an outsider, and Vivek Ramaswamy. Both leave only Nikki Haley in the running against Donald Trump.

Former close friend of Trump

Nikki Haley, 52, originally from India, was Trump's former protégé and appointed US ambassador to the United Nations. Seduced by a career that brought her to the hardline conservatives in the Tea Party, she has since distanced herself from the billionaire. Especially since the attack on the Capitol. She entered the race for the Republican nomination last year, and is even ahead of Joe Biden in opinion polls if she competes with the outgoing president. But among Republicans, his candidacy is not taking off against the unsinkable Donald Trump. His best result is still 43% during voting in New Hampshire.

However, this new election in South Carolina is taking place at home. She was actually the governor of this state from 2011 to 2017 and campaigned intensely, city by city, for this primary. The advantage for her, unlike other states, is that voting is not closed only to Republican activists, so she sought to seduce these nonpartisan voters.

She refuses to throw in the towel

However, polls always show Donald Trump in the lead. “And if he is able to beat the former governor in his state, that would likely make him a near-guaranteed candidate for the Republican nomination.” Analyzes David Darmoval, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina.

However, during this week's meeting, Nikki Haley ruled out the idea of ​​abandoning the race even in the event of a defeat on home soil, believing that this would be “It would be an easy solution.” Whatever the outcome in South Carolina, she plans to stay in the race on Tuesday in Michigan, and then on March 2 in Idaho, Missouri and North Dakota. It thus held out until “Super Tuesday” on March 5, the day ballots were called in fifteen states, including Texas and California. And on Team Donald Trump, we hope to close the game in early March. The former US president may be more concerned about the legal deadlines that still await him than the primary votes.