Donald Trump leads in home state of Nikki Haley: CNN poll

Washington: Former US president Donald Trump leads Indian-American politician Nikki Haley by more than 30 percentage points in her home state of South Carolina as they vie for the Republican Party's nomination for the 2024 presidential election, according to the latest opinion poll by CNN.

The 77-year-old former president, currently the front-runner among the Republican Party candidates, has the support of 53 per cent of its responders in South Carolina as opposed to 22 per cent who support Haley, who is the former governor of South Carolina.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the The 38-year-old Indian-American, is trailing far behind with about one percentage point in the CNN polls of South Carolina, which is one of the early primary states.

The US presidential elections are scheduled to be held on November 5, 2024.

Trump’s base of support in South Carolina is far more solid than his rivals’ pool of core supporters.

An 82 per cent majority of his current backers say that they will definitely support him. Just 42 per cent of 51-year-old Haley’s supporters and 38 per cent of DeSantis’ backers say they are certain they won’t change their minds, CNN said.

South Carolina will hold its primary on February 24 after Iowa and New Hampshire next year.

According to RealClearPolitics which tracks all major national polls, Trump has the national support of 59 per cent of the Republicans followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (12.6 per cent), Haley (8.3 per cent), and Ramaswamy (4.6 per cent).