Trump won South Carolina, defeating Haley in her home state by 60-39 percent, a narrower victory than polls had indicated. Aaron Blake at WP:
Given the GOP nominating contest appears to be all but over, the biggest question now might be what the results say about Trump’s general election prospects.
A few exit poll findings stand out.
One is that 31 percent of voters said Trump wouldn’t be fit to serve as president if he’s convicted of a crime. South Carolina becomes the third early state to show that at least 3 in 10 voters said a convicted Trump wouldn’t be fit. (We don’t have data for Nevada.)
Just because these voters say he wouldn’t be fit doesn’t mean they wouldn’t vote for him, but it would surely be a hurdle for at least some voters to get over. And 5 percent of voters voted for Trump but said he would be unfit if convicted.
Another exit poll finding is that a large chunk of Haley’s support was expressly anti-Trump. While about 20 percent of voters picked her and said it was mainly an affirmative vote for her, well more than 1 in 10 voted for her while saying the vote was mostly against her opponent (Trump).
The NORC analysis showed that 35 percent of voters said they would be dissatisfied with Trump as the nominee, and 21 percent said they wouldn’t vote for him in the general election.
At least 20 percent of voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have now said they will not vote for Trump in November.
A major unknown from there is how many of these voters actually mean it — and would otherwise be in the GOP camp. South Carolina allows any voter to participate in the Republican primary. But just 4 percent of voters Saturday identified as Democrats.
Where he won: Two-thirds of Trump voters were white and didn't go to college.
83% of "angry" voters backed Trump. (ABC)
Where he lost: 75% of Haley supporters correctly said Biden was legitimately elected president in 2020 (about 40% of them voted for Biden). (VoteCast)
A stunning 62% of Republican primary voters said Biden wasn't legitimately elected. (NBC)
Those who went to the polls reflected Trump's strengths:This was the oldest South Carolina GOP electorate this century. (Chuck Todd)
60% of primary voters were white evangelical or born-again Christians. (CNN)
Reality check: That group isn't remotely big enough to win a presidential election. He would need to attract voters who are more diverse, more educated and believe his first loss was legit. South Carolina exit polls show he didn't do that.
