US Election Row – Trump faces critical showdown in Nikki Haley’s South Carolina stronghold amidst Republican primaries

Donald Trump hopes to win Saturday with a decisive score in Nikki Haley’s land in South Carolina, during the Republican primaries. “We need your vote to save America,” he said to mobilize voters in this southeastern state.

Despite Trump’s legal troubles, the former president, aged 77, is the ultra-favorite in the race for the Republican nomination, which must nominate a candidate for the presidential election in November. The ex-businessman has already won his party’s first primaries and, in doing so, skimmed much of the competition.

Nikki Haley, 52, is the only one standing in her way. The plea of ​​this woman, the only one in the running among the Republicans, is simple: “We will not survive four more years of Trump’s chaos.” She urges them to choose “a new generation of conservative leaders” instead.

Trump on Haley’s land

After Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, their duel moves to South Carolina, a state where Nikki Haley was governor for six years. Can she bet be a winner, when the polls place her almost 30 points behind Donald Trump? Verdict Saturday evening – or in the early hours of Sunday in Switzerland.

The polling stations in this state bordered by the Atlantic opened at 7:00 a.m. In a school near Charleston, around ten people came to put their ballots in the box in the first half hour.

In recent days, tens of thousands of voters have already decided thanks to advance voting. Among them, Reinaldo Chacon, 64, who chose Donald Trump without hesitation. “He’s the man” for the situation, this retiree told AFP, praising the “leadership” of the former president.

David Gilliam, 55, preferred Nikki Haley, believing that the candidate was better able to heal the wounds of a “divided” America. The first results will be available from 7:00 p.m. local time.

A major challenge

The stakes of this primary are clear. “If Trump is able to beat former Gov. Nikki Haley in his home state, that would likely make him a near-guaranteed candidate for the Republican Party nomination,” says David Darmofal, a political scientist at the University of Carolina. from South.

During a public meeting on Tuesday, Nikki Haley, however, ruled out the idea of ​​throwing in the towel right after the primary, saying that “would be the easy way out.”

After Saturday, Donald Trump and Nikki Haley should therefore face each other on Tuesday in Michigan. Republicans from Idaho, Missouri and North Dakota will vote in turn.

Super Tuesday, March 5

This well-orchestrated ballet will lead the candidates to one of the biggest political events of the year, Super Tuesday on March 5. That day, around fifteen states, including Texas, California, Colorado and Virginia, will simultaneously organize their polls during a major election day scrutinized by the whole world.

The primaries can in theory stretch until July. But Donald Trump’s team predicts a victory “on March 19” at the latest.

The former president wants to plan as soon as possible in his return match with Joe Biden, Democratic president candidate for re-election, before being sucked in by his serial indictments. His first criminal trial begins on March 25.