Donald Trump leads his Republican rivals by double digits among GOP primary voters in South Carolina, according to a Monmouth University poll released Tuesday.
South Carolina is the first Southern primary stop of the 2016 cycle and could prove to be a tough battle for the candidates who’ve already spent years in public office.
According to the poll, 61 percent of the state’s GOP primary voters believe the next president should be someone “from outside of government” as opposed to someone with significant political experience (28 percent), and the greatest beneficiary of that anti-Washington sentiment is none other than Trump.
Roughly three in ten Republican primary voters currently back the outspoken businessman for president, while retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson comes in second with 15 percent support. Meanwhile, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham earns just 4 percent support from GOP voters in his home state.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush trails Trump by more than 20 points with 9 percent support while Sen. Marco Rubio and former business executive Carly Fiorina tie for the No. 4 spot at 6 percent. A number of candidates including Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, John Kasich and Rand Paul registered at just 5 percent or less.
“It’s interesting that Ben Carson, whose parents come from neighboring Georgia, is outpolling the state’s own senator as a second choice,” Patrick Murray, director of the New Jersey-based polling institute, said in a press release.	
Trump’s favorability rating continues to climb in a number of early primary states, including South Carolina, where 58 percent of primary voters view him favorably. The only candidate to surpass Trump with a higher favorability rating was Carson, who is viewed positively by 72 percent of Republicans in the state.
Five candidates currently earn net negative approval ratings among primary voters in the Palmetto State, including Graham (35-50), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (34-42), Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (31-44), former New York Gov. George Pataki (11-35) and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore (5-22).
The poll surveyed 453 likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina by telephone from Aug. 20-23, and has a margin of error of +4.6 percent.
