Former President Donald Trump hasn’t spent much time meeting voters in South Carolina. It does, however, have the only remaining opponent, the state’s former governor and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.
She has made stop after stop with her dark blue campaign bus to convince voters, who have long known very well who she is.
One of the last speeches she gave at a local Myrtle Beach restaurant featured more than just the increasingly common attacks on Trump’s fitness and age. She also spoke at length about what she herself accomplished during her eight years as governor.
More cautious tone among supporters
Several of the supporters declared that it was wise. She was well-liked when she governed the state, and reminding voters of that has clearly been a more important part of the campaign strategy in recent weeks.
But if earlier in the primary season supporters confidently argued that Haley actually had a chance to defeat Trump, the tone is now increasingly cautious. At the campaign stop in Myrtle Beach, several people described how they “have hope left” that she will succeed with a landslide victory.
Not much has spoken in favor of that happening. Instead, opinion polls have indicated that it will be an impossible task. Realclearpolitics’ weighting of opinion polls showed on election day that Donald Trump had 60.8 percent of support – Nikki Haley was at 37.5 percent.
So is it over for Nikki Haley after South Carolina if it ends in a loss?
“I refuse to give up,” Nikki Haley said during a campaign speech earlier this week.
No one knows how Trump’s legal troubles will end
After voting herself at home on Kiawah Island on Saturday, she said there is no plan yet after Super Tuesday, March 5, when most states vote and a large percentage of delegates are distributed.
Her supporters say she would be right to stubbornly stick around. A common argument is that no one knows how Donald Trump’s legal troubles will end.
He has been charged on four occasions and the first trial is due to begin in New York at the end of March. It could end in prison terms there, although few legal experts believe in that outcome.
Then it becomes difficult to motivate
The Trump campaign, meanwhile, has changed its forecast for when it says the former president’s nomination is unthreatened. According to those calculations, it should be ready as early as March 12.
It is already being questioned why Nikki Haley has chosen to stick around. But should the Trump campaign’s forecast come true, it is difficult to see how Haley will be able to justify a continued fight against Trump until the party’s convention in Milwaukee in mid-July.
Unless the “goods train” has derailed for some reason before then.