Former President Donald Trump continues his massive lead in South Carolina only days ahead of the primary and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced on Tuesday that she will still remain in the race despite numerous calls for her to end the campaign.
On Monday, the Haley campaign issued a media statement where she would announce what they called a “State of The Race Speech.” This media advisory was taken as a possible way for Haley to announce that she would be dropping out of the race but instead doubled down vowing to continue the campaign in South Carolina and beyond, claiming she wasn’t afraid of “Trump’s retribution.”
“We’ve all heard the calls for me to drop out. We all know where they’re coming from — the political elite, the party bosses, the cheerleaders in the commentator world,” the former South Carolina governor said. “The argument is familiar. They say I haven’t won a state, that my path to victory is slim. They point to the primary polls and say I’m only delaying the inevitable. Why keep fighting, when the battle was apparently over after Iowa?”
“I hear what the political class says, but I hear from the American people too,” she said. “They know when the country’s future is on the line, you don’t drop out. You keep fighting. In fact, you fight harder than ever. That’s why I refuse to quit. South Carolina will vote on Saturday, but on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president — I’m not going anywhere.”
Haley has continued to show poor performance in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada and the polls only show her trailing former President Trump by a massive margin. A recent poll from Suffolk University/USA Today in South Carolina shows Trump leading Haley by a 63% to 35% margin among “very likely” voters.
When it comes to the major Super Tuesday primary events, Trump is leading many states with a 41 point advantage and in some cases a 77 point advantage. It’s not making much sense to why she won’t end her campaign and admit defeat.
The Trump campaign issued a memo regarding Haley’s speech which reads, “The true ‘State’ of Nikki Haley’s campaign? Broken down, out of ideas, out of gas, and completely outperformed by every measure, by Donald Trump.”