Presidential election in the United States: The decisive vote for Trump and Haley in the race for the Republican nomination

After Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the Virgin Islands, the Republican primary to nominate their candidate for the presidential election begins its 5th phase this Saturday in South Carolina. A vote that could already be decisive.

During the first votes, former President Donald Trump has already won 63 of the 90 delegates at stake, thanks to scores over 50% each time… including when all of his opponents were still in the race. This forced most of them to withdraw from the race, especially Ron Santis who was seen as an outsider and Vivek Ramaswamy. Both left only Nikki Haley in the race against Donald Trump.

A former close friend of Trump

The 52-year-old, originally from India, a former protégé of Trump, whom he appointed as his US ambassador to the UN, lured by her career that led her to the ultra-conservatives of the Tea Party, Nikki Haley has since distanced herself from the billionaire, especially since then on the Capitol. attack She entered the race for the Republican nomination last year and is even ahead of Joe Biden in the polls in the event of a duel against the outgoing president. But among Republicans, his candidacy isn’t taking off against the unsinkable Donald Trump. His best score was 43% during the polls in New Hampshire.

However, this new election in South Carolina is happening… at home. She was in fact the governor of the state from 2011 to 2017 and led an intense city-to-city campaign for this primary. To her advantage, unlike in other states, the vote is not closed only to Republican activists, so she tried to woo these non-partisan voters.

She refused to throw in the towel

However, the polls always put Donald Trump in the lead. “And if he is able to defeat the former governor in his home state, that would probably make him a near-guaranteed candidate for the Republican Party nomination.” Analyzes University of South Carolina political scientist David Darmofal.

However, during a meeting this week, Nikki Haley rejected the idea of ​​quitting the race even in the face of a home defeat, believing that the “There would be a simple solution”. Regardless of the outcome in South Carolina, she plans to run in Michigan on Tuesday, then Idaho, Missouri and North Dakota on March 2. And so hold until “Super Tuesday” on March 5, when fifteen states, including Texas and California, are called to the polls. At Donald Trump’s team, we hope to fold the game in early March. The former US president may be more concerned about the legal deadline that still awaits him than the primary votes.