The 2016 South Carolina Republican presidential primary took place on February 20 in the U.S. state of South Carolina, marking the Republican Party's third nominating contest in their series of presidential primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The Democratic Party held its Nevada caucuses on the same day, while their South Carolina primary would only take place a week later on February 27.
The states delegates are allocated in this way: 29 delegates are awarded to the winner of the primary; 3 delegates are awarded to the winner of each of the seven congressional districts.
Donald Trump demonstrated his strength over the other candidates, winning among Southern White Evangelical Christians. Marco Rubio, who had the support of then-Governor Nikki Haley, managed second place due to his support among college graduates.
Following a poor result in the primary, Jeb Bush announced the suspension of his campaign.
Forums and debates January 9, 2016 – Columbia, South Carolina The Kemp Forum was held in the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center by the Jack Kemp Foundation. Bush, Carson, Christie, Fiorina, Huckabee, Kasich, and Rubio attended. The forum was moderated by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senator Tim Scott.
January 14, 2016 – North Charleston, South Carolina Candidate Airtime Polls Trump 17:12 34.5% Cruz 17:52 19.3% Rubio 14:19 11.8% Carson 8:26 9.0% Christie 14:25 3.5% Bush 12:36 4.8% Kasich 12:26 2.3% Candidate Airtime Polls Fiorina 12:06 2.8% Paul N/A 2.3% Huckabee 13:00 1.8% Santorum 12:18 0.0% On December 8, 2015, it was announced that Fox Business Network would host an additional debate two days after the State of the Union address. The debate was held in the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina. The anchor and managing editor of Business News, Neil Cavuto, and anchor and global markets editor, Maria Bartiromo, reprised their roles as moderators for the prime-time debate, which began at 9 p.m. EST. The earlier debate, which started at 6 p.m. EST, was again moderated by anchors Trish Regan and Sandra Smith.
On December 22, 2015, Fox Business Network announced that in order to qualify for the prime-time debate, candidates had to either: place in the top six nationally, based on an average of the five most recent national polls recognized by FOX News; place in the top five in Iowa, based on an average of the five most recent Iowa state polls recognized by FOX News; or place in the top five in New Hampshire, based on an average of the five most recent New Hampshire state polls recognized by FOX News. In order to qualify for the first debate, candidates must have registered at least one percent in one of the five most recent national polls.
On January 11, 2016, seven candidates were revealed to have been invited to the prime-time debate: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump. The participants were introduced in order of their poll rankings at the debate.
Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum participated in the undercard debate. Rand Paul was also invited to the undercard debate, but said, "I won't participate in anything that's not first tier because we have a first tier campaign." The candidates were introduced in order of their poll rankings. The first question was to assess the economy. The next questions asked Fiorina about the role of the US in the world, Santorum about the Iran deal, and Huckabee about the solution to Afghanistan's problems.
February 13, 2016 – Greenville, South Carolina The ninth debate, and second debate in the month of February, was held in another early primary state of South Carolina, and aired on CBS News. The debate was moderated by John Dickerson in the Peace Center, began at 9 p.m. ET and lasted for 90 minutes.
Endorsements
Withdrawn candidates
Polling Aggregate polls +Source of poll aggregationDates administeredDates updatedMarco RubioDonald TrumpTed CruzJeb BushMarginRealClearPoliticsRealClearPoliticsuntil February 20, 2016February 20, 201618.8%31.8%18.5%10.7%Trump +13.0FiveThirtyEightFiveThirtyEightuntil February 20, 2016February 20, 201619.8%30.5%19.5%11.4%Trump +10.7 Poll sourceDate1st2nd3rdOtherPrimary resultsPrimary resultsFebruary 20, 2016Donald Trump32.51%Marco Rubio22.48%Ted Cruz22.33%Jeb Bush 7.84%, John Kasich 7.61%, Ben Carson 7.23%Opinion Savvy/ Augusta Chronicle
Margin of error: ± 3.5% Sample size: 780February 18–19, 2016Donald Trump26.9%Marco Rubio24.1%Ted Cruz 18.8%Jeb Bush 10.6%, Ben Carson 8.2%, John Kasich 7.5%, Undecided 3.9%South Carolina House GOP
Margin of error: ± 2.0% Sample size: 3500February 18, 2016Donald Trump33.51%Ted Cruz 18.96%Marco Rubio 18.07%Jeb Bush 11.56%, John Kasich 8.49%, Ben Carson 5.22%, Undecided 4.19%National Research Margin of error: ± ?% Sample size: 500February 17–18, 2016Donald Trump32%Ted Cruz 19%Marco Rubio 18%Jeb Bush 8%, John Kasich 7%, Ben Carson 6%, Refused 2%, Undecided 7%ARG Margin of error: ± 5.0% Sample size: 401February 17–18, 2016Donald Trump34%Marco Rubio 22%John Kasich 14%Ted Cruz 13%, Jeb Bush 9%, Ben Carson 4%, Other 1%, Undecided 3%Emerson College Margin of error: ± 4.7% Sample size: 418February 16–18, 2016Donald Trump36%Ted Cruz 19%Marco Rubio 18%John Kasich 10%, Jeb Bush 10%, Ben Carson 6%Clemson University Margin of error: ± 3.0% Sample size: 650February 14–18, 2016Donald Trump28%Ted Cruz 19%Marco Rubio 15%Jeb Bush 10%, John Kasich 9%, Ben Carson 6%, Undecided 13%ARG Margin of error: ± 5.0% Sample size: 400February 16–17, 2016Donald Trump33%Marco Rubio 20%John Kasich 15%Ted Cruz 13%, Jeb Bush 8%, Ben Carson 3%, Other 1%, Undecided 7%Harper Polling Margin of error: ± 4% Sample size: 599February 16–17, 2016Donald Trump29%Ted Cruz 17%Marco Rubio 15%Jeb Bush 14%, John Kasich 13%, Ben Carson 8%, Undecided 5%NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist College
Margin of error: ± 3.6% Sample size: 722February 15–17, 2016Donald Trump28%Ted Cruz 23%Marco Rubio 15%Jeb Bush 13%, Ben Carson 9%, John Kasich 9%, Undecided 5%Fox News Margin of error: ± 3.5% Sample size: 759February 15–17, 2016Donald Trump32%Ted Cruz 19%Marco Rubio 15%Jeb Bush 9%, Ben Carson 9%, John Kasich 6%, Other 1%, Undecided 8%Emerson College Margin of error: ± 5.0% Sample size: 315February 15–16, 2016Donald Trump33%Ted Cruz 20%Marco Rubio 19%John Kasich 9%, Jeb Bush 9%, Ben Carson 5%, Other 1%, Undecided 4%ARG Margin of error: ± 5.0% Sample size: 400February 14–16, 2016Donald Trump33%Marco Rubio 16%Ted Cruz 14%John Kasich 14%, Jeb Bush 9%, Ben Carson 3%, Other 2%, Undecided 8%Monmouth University Margin of error: ± 4.9% Sample size: 400February 14–16, 2016Donald Trump35%Ted Cruz 19%Marco Rubio 17%John Kasich 9%, Jeb Bush 8%, Ben Carson 7%, Undecided 5%Bloomberg/Selzer Margin of error: ± 4.4% Sample size: 502February 13–16, 2016Donald Trump36%Ted Cruz 17%Marco Rubio 15%Jeb Bush 13%, Ben Carson 9%, John Kasich 7%, Undecided 3%Public Policy Polling Margin of error: ± 3.3% Sample size: 897February 14–15, 2016Donald Trump35%Ted Cruz 18%Marco Rubio 18%John Kasich 10%, Jeb Bush 7%, Ben Carson 7%, Undecided 6%South Carolina House GOP
Margin of error: ± 2.4% Sample size: 1700February 15, 2016Donald Trump33.57%Ted Cruz 15.54%Marco Rubio 14.83%Jeb Bush 14.54%, John Kasich 7.98%, Ben Carson 6.55%, Undecided 7.03%CNN/ORC Margin of error: ± 5% Sample size: 404February 10–15, 2016Donald Trump38%Ted Cruz 22%Marco Rubio 14%Jeb Bush 10%, Ben Carson 6%, John Kasich 4%, Jim Gilmore 1%, Someone Else 1%, Undecided 1%, No Opinion 3%ARG Margin of error: ± 5.0% Sample size: 400February 12–13, 2016Donald Trump35%John Kasich 15%Marco Rubio 14%Ted Cruz 12%, Jeb Bush 10%, Ben Carson 2%, Other 2%, Undecided 10%South Carolina House GOP
Margin of error: ± ?%
Sample size: 1200February 11–12, 2016Donald Trump34.5%Ted Cruz 15.5%Jeb Bush 13%Marco Rubio 12.5%, John Kasich 8.5%, Ben Carson 5%, Undecided 11%CBS News/YouGov Margin of error: ± 5.2% Sample size: 744February 10–12, 2016Donald Trump42%Ted Cruz 20%Marco Rubio 15%John Kasich 9%, Jeb Bush 6%, Ben Carson 6%, Chris Christie 1%, Carly Fiorina 0%, Jim Gilmore 0%, No preference 1%Opinion Savvy/ Augusta Chronicle
Margin of error: ± 3.5% Sample size: 779February 10–11, 2016Donald Trump36.3%Ted Cruz 19.6%Marco Rubio 14.6%Jeb Bush 10.9%, John Kasich 8.7%, Ben Carson 4.7%, Undecided 5.2%NBC/WSJ/Marist Margin of error: ± 3.7% Sample size: 718January 17–23, 2016Donald Trump36%Ted Cruz 20%Marco Rubio 14%Jeb Bush 9%, Ben Carson 8%, Mike Huckabee 2%, Chris Christie 2%, Rand Paul 1%, John Kasich 1%, Carly Fiorina 1%, Other 0%, Undecided 6%CBS/YouGov Margin of error: ± 5.3% Sample size: 804January 18–21, 2016Donald Trump40%Ted Cruz 21%Marco Rubio 13%Ben Carson 9%, Jeb Bush 8%, Rand Paul 3%, Mike Huckabee 2%, John Kasich 2%, Chris Christie 1%, Carly Fiorina 1%, Rick Santorum 0%, Jim Gilmore 0%, No Preference 0%Morris News/Opinion Savvy Margin of error: ± 3.7% Sample size: 683January 15, 2016Donald Trump32%Ted Cruz 18%Jeb Bush 13%Marco Rubio 11%, Ben Carson 9%, Chris Christie 4%, Carly Fiorina 3%, Mike Huckabee 2%, John Kasich 2%, Rand Paul 2%, Rick Santorum 1%, Undecided 3%Associated Industries of FloridaAssociated Industries of Florida Margin of error: ± 3.9%
Sample size: 600December 16–17, 2015Donald Trump27%Ted Cruz27%Marco Rubio 12%Ben Carson 11%, Jeb Bush 7%, Others 5%, Undecided 11%CBS News/YouGovCBS News/YouGov Margin of error: ± 5%
Sample size: 1469December 14–17, 2015Donald Trump38%Ted Cruz 23%Marco Rubio 12%Ben Carson 9%, Jeb Bush 7%, Rand Paul 4%, John Kasich 2%, Chris Christie 1%, Carly Fiorina 1%, Mike Huckabee 1%, Lindsey Graham 1%, Rick Santorum 0%, George Pataki 0%, Jim Gilmore 0%, No preference 1%Opinion Savvy/Augusta ChronicleOpinion Savvy/Augusta Chronicle Margin of error: ± 4.2%
Sample size: 536December 16, 2015Donald Trump28.3%Ted Cruz 21.1%Marco Rubio 11.6%Jeb Bush 9.6%, Ben Carson 9.5%, Chris Christie 5.5%, Carly Fiorina 4.6%, Rand Paul 2.6%, Mike Huckabee 2.1%, Lindsey Graham 1.9%, John Kasich 1.4%, Rick Santorum 0.5%, George Pataki 0.2%, Undecided 1.3%Winthrop UniversityWinthrop University Margin of error: ± 3.4%
Sample size: 828November 30 – December 7, 2015Donald Trump24%Ted Cruz 16%Ben Carson 14%Marco Rubio 11%, Jeb Bush 9%, Mike Huckabee 2%, Lindsey Graham 2%, Carly Fiorina 1%, Rand Paul 1%, Chris Christie 1%, John Kasich 1%, Rick Santorum 0%, George Pataki 0%Fox NewsFox News Margin of error: ± 4.5%
Sample size: 437December 5–8, 2015Donald Trump35%Ben Carson 15%Marco Rubio/Ted Cruz 14%Jeb Bush 5%, Rand Paul 2%, Lindsey Graham 2%, Chris Christie 2%, Carly Fiorina 1%, John Kasich 1%, Mike Huckabee 1%, Rick Santorum 1%, George Pataki 0%, None of the Above 1%, Don't Know 5%CBS News/YouGovCBS News/YouGov Margin of error: ± 5.1%
Sample size: ?November 15–19, 2015Donald Trump35%Ben Carson 19%Marco Rubio 16%Ted Cruz 13%, Jeb Bush 5%, Lindsey Graham 3%, Carly Fiorina 2%, Mike Huckabee 2%, John Kasich 2%, Chris Christie 1%, Rand Paul 1%, Rick Santorum 1%, George Pataki 0%, Bobby Jindal 0%, Jim Gilmore 0%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling Margin of error: ± 3.5%
Sample size: 787November 7–8, 2015Donald Trump25%Ben Carson 21%Ted Cruz 15%Marco Rubio 13%, Jeb Bush 8%, Carly Fiorina 5%, John Kasich 3%, Lindsey Graham 2%, Mike Huckabee 2%, Rand Paul 1%, Chris Christie 1%, Rick Santorum 1%, Bobby Jindal 0%, Jim Gilmore 0%, George Pataki 0%, Undecided 3%CBS News/YouGovCBS News/YouGov Margin of error: ± 3.4%
Sample size: 843October 15–23, 2015Donald Trump40%Ben Carson 23%Ted Cruz 8%Marco Rubio 7%, Jeb Bush 6%, Carly Fiorina 3%, Lindsey Graham 2%, Mike Huckabee 2%, John Kasich 2%, Rand Paul 1%, Chris Christie 1%, Bobby Jindal 1%, Rick Santorum 1%, Jim Gilmore 0%, George Pataki 0%, No Preference 5%Clemson-PalmettoClemson-Palmetto Margin of error: ± 4%
Sample size: 600October 13–23, 2015Donald Trump23%Ben Carson19%Ted Cruz