IRMO, S.C. — South Carolina Republicans facing a big choice in their state’s primary Saturday between former President Donald Trump and their former governor Nikki Haley are already thinking about November. If Haley is not the GOP nominee, some said here the week before the election, they might even abstain from voting altogether.
“There’s just not a good candidate in that scenario,” Sam Stanyon, a nurse manager for a national health insurance company, told Annenberg Media after a rally here for Nikki Haley, the state’s former governor.
Stanyon, who has lived in South Carolina for three years, said he is voting for Haley because he likes her standing on border control issues, but admitted she may not be perfect.
“I don’t think she will be fully successful in everything, that’s just unrealistic in any president,” Stanyon said. “Trump brings too much baggage, [he] is not good for the United States and Biden is not the worst president, but neither the best one, he has not done everything he said.”
Even those who backed Trump in 2016 said they will sit it out come November if Haley is not on the ballot.
“I would not vote at all,” said Kim Holston, an insurance claims adjuster who voted for Haley during early voting in Lexington County where she grew up. Holston said that Haley handled a lot of “terrible things” happening in South Carolina when she was the governor with “a lot of grace” and she thinks that she can do the same as president of the country. She was joined by her daughter.
For many Republican voters, immigration policies and the border issue are a big problem. “[South Carolina] is not a state border but it is still a concern for the people,” said state Sen. Shane Massey, who serves as the majority leader. Massey spoke with Annenberg Media about the top concerns of his district and the state. He explained that many South Carolinians tend to be more enthusiastic than others when it comes to the type of policies that they think should be created to address illegal immigration and about the extensive involvement of the federal government on issues they would like the state to handle.
Holston said she likes Haley’s propositions on border control and that she will be a good candidate to take care of the country’s financial issues even though she disagrees with some of Haley’s social policies.
“Most people are not Democrat and Republican, most people fall in the middle. I’m typically more liberal towards the social aspect,” she said, after being asked about immigration policies and abortion.
After a fundraising blitz and two rallies in Texas, Haley arrived in her home state a week away from the first in the South Republican primary. She visited multiple cities on a “Beast of the Southeast” bus tour, and told voters here in Irmo that “there will be a female president of the United States.”
Some Republican voters said they think it is about time to have a woman lead the country.
“Nikki is good, she is strong, she [was] the ambassador of the United Nations, that’s not a small feat,” said Manning Frankstone, a Haley supporter who attended the Irmo rally on Feb. 17. “I think she will make a great president… it’s about time a woman is there.”
For Loretta Smith, a retired artist who voted early for Haley and also saw her in Irmo, Trump did what he could as president during a pandemic.
“Trump did the best he could in a very difficult time, however, there was a lot of chaos and a lot of divisiveness in the country. It’s not a time I look back fondly,” Smith said.
She said she voted for Haley because she was a great governor for South Carolina and that she has high expectations of her intelligence: “[Haley] is a very strong, powerful woman and I think she can do this.”
Seven months ahead of the general election, some Haley supporters were already speculating about a Trump vs. Biden rematch in November.
“I would vote for Biden,” said Katherine Frankstone after the Haley rally. “[Trump] is so chaotic… he is a liar, a misogynist. I can’t think of a good thing to say about him and to have him as the leader of the free world scares the … out of me.”
A married retired couple supporting Haley at the rally in Irmo said even though they backed Trump previously they won’t do it again.
“We’re just not gonna vote for Trump,” George Long said. “I don’t have a problem with Biden, I just wish the Democrats would put up a younger person up just to give us some more of a choice.”
This comes after the rising concerns among people who say they think both Biden and Trump are too old for the job and they need a younger person in the office.
“We’ve been Republicans most of our lives but we’re definitely not voting Republican if it comes to just Trump and Biden.” Sarah Long said.
She added that they both “feel very strongly” Trump is “not qualified.”
“He is not capable of handling the job,” Long said. “He has done a lot of unethical things during his lifetime.”