Governor Greg Abbott argued that Donald Trump is well positioned to clinch the Republican presidential nomination by mid-March based on his strong South Carolina primary victory.
While Dana Bash noted Nikki Haley’s comments that 40% support for alternatives is significant, Abbott countered that Trump’s 20-point victory in Haley’s home state of South Carolina, where she remains popular, demonstrated Trump’s dominance.
“Let’s start with last night’s results in South Carolina. Nikki Haley said that 40% is not some tiny group. There are huge numbers of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative. That is her quote, is she right? Is her level of support a warning sign for Donald Trump?” Dana Bash asked.
Abbott said the win there, coupled with upcoming primaries in other states on Super Tuesday, will allow Trump to secure the nomination by the middle of March.
He observed that Trump is achieving consistently large victories across primary states and that the Republican party is more unified behind Trump now than in his previous races, showing the wind is strongly at his back for the nomination.
“Listen, in politics, a 20-point victory is huge and is the top of victory that President Trump has been achieving across the country. But last night was even more many-fold because it was a victory by 20 percentage points in a state where Nikki Haley was the governor. So she is beloved more in South Carolina than perhaps any other state in America,” Abbott said.
“You can see the trajectory that President Trump on and after defeating Nikki Haley’s so badly in South Carolina. He’s on a pathway to when these other states when Super Tuesday and be able to have the nomination clinched by the middle part of March,” he said.
“So I would say the wind as strongly at the back of President Trump. As he pointed out, in his remarks last night, not even making reference to Nikki Haley, he said that the party truly is a unifying. You can see it in comparison to say, his past primaries and listen the party is far more unified behind President Trump at this particular time that has been an any other race that he’s had,” Abbott said.