A new poll has Nikki Haley up by a wide margin over all three of her opponents, but still likely to face a run off and the Good Ole Boy System. i am not skeptical Haley is in the lead, but a few points seem off.Public Policy Polling is a North Carolina based, Democratic leaning pollster. There are rumors floating about that with Vincent Sheheen comfortably in the leading the democrat gubernatorial primary, Democrat party leaders are urging members to cross over into the GOP primary to vote for Haley. Word is they consider her the weakest candidate, most likely because they assume when it comes down to it, Republicans are allegedly too racist to vote for a woman of Indian descent for high office. So perhaps the Democratic pollster is encouraging the alleged plan.
Unfortunately, some old school Republicans have encouraged the notion by spreading the idea Haley is filthy Ay-rab like Barack Obama. However, the plan has not worked. Haley archived the backing of numerous conservative Republican groups and Tea Parties, including the tea party of my home city. Look, I live in a one horse town that nearly went the way of Jonestown when The Dukes of Hazzard was canceled. If my fellow citizens will vote for Haley, the rest of the state will, too.
Look at the numbers:
Haley leads all candidates by 43%
She leads US Rep. Gresham 51-35% (13% undecided.)
She leads Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster 54-25% 911% undecided)
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer only merits12% of the overall vote.
Fifty-five percent of those polled believe Haley has not had extramarital affairs compared to 13% who say the allegations are true. Obviously, attempts to smear her asan adulteress were failures. Desperate ones at that.
I am still pessimistic the Jake Knotts crowd will line up behind Barrett or McMaster to keep Haley out of the men’s club, but her numbers look good across the board as far as rank and file South Carolinians go. The Palmetto State may surprise everyone yet.
