Since 4pm on Wednesday, over thirteen hundred participants have weighed in with their opinion on the primary races, via our exclusive online 7News poll.

Here are the findings of that survey.PARTY AFFILIATION

POLITICAL VIEWPOINT

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE AN “EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN?”

DO YOU PLAN TO VOTE IN THE SC GOP PRIMARY?

WHO DO YOU INTEND TO VOTE FOR IN THE SC PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

Some eleven hundred people responded in the poll with who they intend to vote for in Saturdays Republican Primary.

Some eleven hundred people responded in the poll with who they intend to vote for in Saturdays Republican Primary. The final tally gives Donald Trump a large lead of more than twenty percent ahead of his closest competitor, Marco Rubio-the candidate endorsed by GOP leaders such as Governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Trey Gowdy.

EFFECT OF GOV. HALEY ENDORSEMENT

“Will and endorsement by SC Gov. Nikki Haley of any particular candidate influence your vote in the Republican Primary?”

It’s interesting to note that in our poll, nearly all respondents-some ninety percent-say that the endorsement of a candidate by Governor Nikki Haley would have no influence on their primary vote.

MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE

A little more than half of our poll participants also agreed to give their opinions on other questions in this election year.

“What do you consider the most important issue in the election our our next president?”

The three top issues that they consider most important in the election of our next President: The Economy (26%), Immigration Control (22%) and fighting Terrorism (21%).

WHICH PARTY DO AGREE WITH MORE?

“Who do you agree with more about what the government should and should not do? Republicans, Democrats, Independents, or somebody else?

APPROVAL RATINGS

Given the large number of Republicans that participated in our poll, it should not be surprising that over seventy-two (72%) percent of them say they “Disapprove a great deal” of the job President Obama has done in office.

More surprising is that about fifty percent (50%) of them feel the same way about the job being done by the U.S. Congress, saying they “Disapprove a great deal” of their job performance.OBAMA APPROVAL

“Do you approve, disapprove, or neither about how President Obama has done his job while in office?

CONGRESS APPROVAL RATING

“Do you approve, disapprove, or neither about the job being done by the U.S. Congress?

PARTICIPANT GENDER

Our poll participants were nearly evenly split between Men and Women, with slightly more Women participating (52% Women to 48% Men).

The biggest difference in their responses was that Trump was the choice of more Men than Women (45% to 42%), where Marco Rubio was favored by more Women than Men (24% to 20%)

PARTICIPANT AGE

Those taking our 7 News poll were mostly over 40 years old, with over eighty (80%) percent telling us that was their age.

Finally, nearly seventy-seven percent (77%) of those in our poll say they have lived in the Palmetto State for twenty years or more.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN SOUTH CAROLINA?

Finally, nearly seventy-seven percent (77%) of those in our poll say they have lived in the Palmetto State for twenty years or more.

Disclaimer:

Our poll was conducted between 4pm on Wednesday, February 17th and 2pm on Friday, February 19th, on WSPA.com and via the 7 News mobile app. The poll was presented through the services of SurveyMonkey.com, a leading online polling service. The SurveyMonkey.com service only allows one answer per internet (IP) address. Participants self described themselves as living in South Carolina through declaration of their home zipcodes. Participants were not required to complete all questions in the poll to participate, though only those who answered a question were counted in the final results for that particular question. The margin of error in our poll is +/- 3%.