(AFP) – Donald Trump rallied his supporters on Friday ahead of the South Carolina Republican primary, hoping to deal yet another blow against rival Nikki Haley, this time in her home state.
“Tomorrow you will cast one of the most important votes of your entire life,” the former president and current 2024 frontrunner told supporters at a speech in the town of Rock Hill.
Haley lost the first four nominating contests to Trump in the Republican Party’s race to select its candidate for November’s general elections. Despite being a popular governor in the southeastern state, she’s down in polling by some 30 points ahead of Saturday’s vote.
Underscoring his confidence, Trump, 77, told his supporters on the eve of the vote: “Honestly, we’re not that worried.”
Polls open at 7:00 a.m. (1200 GMT) and close 12 hours later.
Haley, a more traditional conservative, has urged voters to ditch the “chaos” that follows the ex-president, though that message has not won over voters in polls held so far in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the US Virgin Islands.
She has also, at age 52, called for a “new generational leader that focuses on the solutions of the future instead of all the issues of the past.”
Trump, however, is already sizing up a rematch against Joe Biden, as no serious Democrats are challenging the incumbent president.
“We’re going to win this state and then we’re going to tell crooked Joe Biden, ‘You’re fired,'” he said. –
