Haley surges ahead of DeSantis in SC GOP presidential primary poll. Trump still leads field.

Former President Donald Trump continues to lead a crowded 2024 GOP presidential field as he prepares to bring his campaign back to South Carolina on Sept. 25 in Summerville.

A new Monmouth University-Washington Post poll released Thursday bolstered his lead in the Palmetto State, with 46% of potential GOP primary voters hedging their bets on the indictment-laden candidate.

Trump's lead was equivalent to the support held by the rest of the field. The two homegrown candidates, former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, made for just over a quarter of support.

Haley, who had been lagging behind in polls since February, has started to see polls tick in her favor. She was in second place after Trump with 18% of the votes in the SC primary poll. Meanwhile, Scott was at 10% and DeSantis, who has substantial support in the Upstate, was at 9%.

The poll, conducted between Sept. 6 and Sept. 11, had a sample size of 506 potential GOP primary voters in the First-in-the-South state. It also revealed what differentiated Trump voters from other South Carolina GOP voters.

Close to 81% of Trump voters in the poll believe Biden won the 2020 election through fraud. Those numbers drop down to 31% among non-Trump primary voters.

Trump voters were also asked if "whites were losing out," and nearly 65% agreed with the sentiment, as opposed to 38% of the non-Trump supporters. A significant proportion (73%) feel that abortion should be illegal, though only 44% of non-Trump voters supported a total abortion ban.

Trump's return to South Carolina will come two days before the second GOP primary debate in California. The Sept. 25 Summerville rally will be held at a Sportsman Boats location in close proximity to both Scott and Haley's stomping grounds.

The former president's presence is a constant reminder that the first challenge for GOP candidates is not Biden, it's Trump's behemoth influence, even as a recent CNN poll cast Haley as the best Republican candidate to beat President Joe Biden.

Scott's campaign recently sent a memo to the RNC to decide stage placements based on polls in early primary and caucus states like Iowa, where Scott enjoys popularity. His campaign claims polls in South Carolina, Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire better represented where voters stood.

Devyani Chhetri covers SC politics for the Greenville News. You can reach her at @ChhetriDevyani on X or dchhetri@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Haley leads DeSantis, trails Trump in SC Monmouth-Washington Post poll