SC Exit polls: Nikki Haley strong with GOP base

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — For years, South Carolina has been a reliably red state with Republicans holding the top political offices. Preliminary results from exit polling conducted for The Associated Press and television networks on Tuesday in the state show that the trend should continue.

Republican Gov. Nikki Haley and U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott attracted strong support Tuesday from the party’s base, the preliminary results showed. They include the lion’s share of votes from people who identified themselves as conservative, Tea Party supporters as well as those who say, “Things in this country today are seriously off on the wrong track.”

Here are some of the highlights based on the early results from exit poll interviews:

HALEY’S SUPPORT: Haley’s strength lies with traditional GOP voters. She did her best among white evangelicals and Tea Party supporters as well as voters with “negative” feelings about President Barack Obama’s administration. She also fared well with people who said the economy is the most pressing national issue. Haley frequently touted the number of jobs created on her watch and a state unemployment rate that’s fallen from 10.5 percent when she took office to 6.4 percent last month. But her opponent Democrat Vincent Sheheen has criticized her numbers as not real. Sheheen reminded voters of problems in Haley’s administration, including the 2012 cyber-theft of 6.4 million residents’ and businesses’ personal data from tax returns. Sheehan drew strong support from voters who identified themselves as moderate or liberal.

GRAHAM’S STRENGTH: The longtime Republican incumbent did best among whites, tea party supporters and those opposing same-sex marriage and the federal health-care reform law. He has made his foreign policy experience central to his campaign. Graham has criticized President Barack Obama for not doing enough to stop the spread of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Graham, though, had to beat back a challenge from the Tea Party candidates in the primary who said he wasn’t conservative enough for this heavily conservative state.

SCOTT’S SUPPORT: Seeking to finish the final two years of conservative Sen. Jim DeMint’s term, Scott did best among white evangelicals and voters who identified themselves as conservative. But Scott, who is the first African-American senator in the Deep South since Reconstruction, only landed about a quarter of black voters, early results showed. His opponent, Democrat Joyce Dickerson, fared well with liberal and moderate voters.

TOP ISSUES: The economy was the top issue for more than four in 10 voters, followed by health care and illegal immigration.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Nearly two-thirds of voters are still opposed to same-sex marriage. The issue has been contentious in this conservative state. In early October, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision allowing same-sex marriage in Virginia. South Carolina is the only one in the Fourth U.S. Circuit refusing to allow gay marriage.

HEALTH CARE: Over half of the voters say they oppose the federal health care reform law. Sheheen supporters favored it and Haley backers opposed it, both by wide margins.

OVERWHELMINGLY AGAINST OBAMA: About six in 10 South Carolina voters said they had “negative” feelings about the Obama administration.

MARGIN OF ERROR: The exit poll of 1,793 South Carolina voters was conducted for The AP and television networks by Edison Research in a random sample of 27 precincts statewide. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points; it is higher for subgroups.