One of South Carolina’s biggest newspapers says Republican presidential candidate Lindsey Graham, the state’s senior senator, has almost no chance of winning his party’s nomination.
The South Carolina Post and Courier editorial board complimented Graham’s performance in the “undercard” segment of last week’s debate, but said it’s still unlikely that his campaign can gain enough traction.
“[T]hose who watched that opener witnessed a strong outing from Lindsey Graham,” said the Post and Courier on Friday, referring to one of his lines attacking radical Islam.
“OK, so our senior senator appears to have scant chance of winning the S.C. primary, much less the GOP nomination and the presidency. Before writing any candidates off, though, keep in mind that it’s still just September of 2015 in the 2016 presidential race — and that the more we learn about all of the candidates, the less likely we are to make an ill-informed choice.”
Since launching his campaign at the start of June, Graham has consistently shown up at or near the bottom of national polls. Even in South Carolina, he generally does not crack the top five out of the sprawling field of 16 candidates. He ranks 13th in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings.
The latest average of South Carolina polls by Real Clear Politics shows Graham polling in seventh place with 4 percent. Donald Trump is in first with 34 percent.
