Nearly one-third of Donald Trump
supporters in South Carolina say they would support banning gays from
entering the United States.
As the 2016 presidential campaign
shifts to South Carolina – the state holds its primary on Saturday
– pollster Public Policy Polling (PPP) released some findings on
how voters in the state feel about the candidates.
According to PPP's telephone/Internet
poll conducted on February 14 and 15, Trump leads in South Carolina.
Thirty-five percent of respondents said that they are leaning toward
Trump, that's 7 percentage points higher than his closest GOP rivals,
Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
“Donald Trump doesn't seem to have
lost any support in South Carolina following Saturday night's
debate,” said
PPP President Dean Debnam in releasing the results. “He has a
pretty consistent across the board lead with the different segments
of the Republican electorate.”
According to PPP's findings, 70 percent
of Trump supporters in South Carolina think the Confederate flag
should still be flying over the State Capital; 38 percent wish the
South had won the Civil War; 80 percent support Trump's proposed ban
on Muslims entering the United States; and 31 percent would also
support a ban on homosexuals entering the country.
Cruz has the highest unfavorable rating
at 48 percent, while Trump is tied with former Florida Governor Jeb
Bush at 43 percent.
On the Democratic side, Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton leads Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by
21 percentage points in South Carolina.