The quarterly Winthrop Poll, conducted by Scott Huffmon at Winthrop University, showed that South Carolina voters remain predictable when it comes to approval ratings between Republican and Democratic leaders, the 2024 election, and problems in America.
Those surveyed also had fairly on-trend views about former president Donald Trump’s conviction and Confederate symbols.
What was most surprising about the results from the poll were the questions asked about God and country and the Civil War.
45% of those surveyed believe the federal government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation. 61% of Republicans say the country should be a Christian nation while 47% of Democrats disagree with this statement.
62% of respondents correctly answered that South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union before the Civil War. 27% of respondents said a different state and 11% did not know.
“We know from the Census’ American Community Survey that just over half of current South Carolinians were born in South Carolina and we understand that number would be lower when excluding all those age 17 and under, as we do here,” Huffmon said in the press release. “However, the fact that over one-third of South Carolinians cannot correctly report that we were the first state to secede from the Union shows either a lack of knowledge of, or lack of engagement with, our state’s history among a notable percentage of the population.”
Almost half of South Carolinians surveyed said that it was very likely or somewhat likely that America would face another civil war in the near future. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to think this.
“The idea that another civil war could be in our near future demonstrates how irreconcilably polarized many folks believe that we are in America,” Huffmon said in the press release.
Out of all the likely voters surveyed 52% said that if the presidential election was held today they would vote for Donald Trump while 42% would vote for Kamala Harris.
Nearly 60% of South Carolinians who were asked said that they disapprove of the way President Joe Biden is doing his job. 90% of Republicans say they disapprove of the job Biden is doing, while 72% of Democrats say they approve.
“Not surprisingly Joe Biden is not particularly popular in South Carolina. Biden’s South Carolina approval rates are ten points lower than his national approval ratings.” (Biden’s national approval rate was 41.4 as of September 27 according to FiveThirtyEight.com.), Huffmon said in the press release.
Republican governor Henry McMaster fared better when it came to approval ratings. 59% of respondents approve of the way he is doing his job and 41% disapprove.
A quarter of those surveyed said that they are unsure of how he is handling his job.
“While nearly a quarter of the general population are unsure of their opinion on Governor McMaster, he is very popular among those confident enough to form an opinion. Additionally, Governor McMaster’s support among South Carolina’s Republicans is extremely high. McMaster’s support among Republicans in South Carolina is currently higher than both Tim Scott’s and Lindsey Graham’s approval ratings,” Huffmon noted in the press release.
Respondents said the biggest problems facing America are election security, illegal immigration, opioid addiction and the country turning its back to God.
Huffmon noted on the issues of election security and illegal immigration that while Republicans were predictably above the midline, Democrats were also above the midline on those issues, meaning that Republican messaging could be making a difference.
“While the Republican average was notably higher than that for Democrats, the Democratic average was above the midline. This raises the question of whether Democrats have been open to the Republican messaging or whether ‘election security’ means something different to them,” Huffmon said in the press release.
The full Winthrop Poll results can be found here.
This just confirms that GOP voters will be voting Deep Red straight party ticket - no surprise there. As the saying goes, they’d vote for a ham sammich if it was on the Republican ticket. So much for voting for candidates and platforms…
Sadly, this also shows low engagement, belief in gaslighting and propaganda, and low critical thinking skills. Then, you can add in some extreme gerrymandering and voter suppression.
SC - where a supermajority refuses to be held accountable…
BTW, I am a moderate left leaning independent… I feel that I have little voice in this state, and it’s frustrating.
I gotta get out of here.