A new poll out Thursday morning shows Donald Trump maintaining his lead in South Carolina amongst likely GOP primary voters.
The businessman and Republican presidential front-runner attracts 24% of the vote in the state; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz comes in second with 16%, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 14%, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 11% and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 9%, according to the Winthrop University survey. All other candidates attracted 2% of the vote or less, including sitting South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
On issues, South Carolina voters are pretty evenly split on whether or not the government should keep a database of all Muslims in the United States. About half (48%) of respondents thought the government should, while 42% did not. When self-identified Trump supporters responded, 72% showed support for a government database on Muslims in this country.
Winthrop University finished the poll on December 7th, the same day at Donald Trump released his plan to ban all Muslims from entering the country. Trump also spoke that evening to thousands that evening in South Carolina near Charleston.
“Trump leads across multiple categories of voters from a high of 35% among those who wish to create a database of Muslims in the U.S. to a low of 22% among evangelical Christians, who will make up nearly 60% of the S.C. GOP presidential primary electorate,” said Scott Huffmon, Winthrop University polling director, in a press release accompanying the results.
Cruz and Carson, who are widely viewed as the top contenders vying for the evangelical vote, are viewed less favorably than Trump among those voters in the Palmetto State. They are tied at 17% of the vote, while Trump gets 22% of evangelical support.
Trump lags the field when it comes to overall favorability — 49% have favorable views of Trump compared to about 75% for Carson, 59% for Cruz, 58% for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Within state government, Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott have glowing approval ratings: 81% and 76% respectively. Graham, who was re-elected in 2014 with 55% of the vote, has a 53% approval rating.