Former President Donald Trump is leading rival Nikki Haley by 26 points in a poll released Thursday of South Carolina's Republican voters.
Haley served as governor of the state from 2011 to 2017 before becoming Trump's ambassador to the United Nations.
If she's walloped by the ex-president in the February 24 South Carolina Repubican primary it could doom her already struggling campaign.
The Monmouth University/Washington Post survey found that 58 percent of South Carolina Republican primary voters said they'd support Trump, while 32 percent said they'd pick Haley.
A full 60 percent of respondents said the Republican Party should keep Trump on the ticket even if he's convicted of a crime related to trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Both candidates have benefited from a slimmed-down primary field, instead of just Haley, which is why Trump remains so far ahead.
In September, the last time Monmouth queried South Carolina Republicans, Trump had the support of 46 percent of GOP primary voters, while Haley stood at 18 percent.
At the time, another 32 percent of South Carolina Republicans were supporting another candidate.
In January, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, then entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and then Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out the race, making it a two-person face-off between Trump and Haley two days before the New Hampshire primary.
Trump beat Haley there by 11.1 points.
Next week, Nevada voters will make their choice - but because of a tussle between the state legislature and the Trump-aligned state Republican Party, only the ex-president will be eligible to pick up delegates due to his participation in the February 8 caucus.
That makes South Carolina - with it's late February primary - the next true battleground state.
Palmetto State Republicans aren't rattled by Trump's legal problems, with three in five indicating they believe the ex-president should be kept on the ticket even if he's convicted of 2020 election interference crimes.
A similar 62 percent said they'd still cast a general election ballot for the ex-president if he's convicted, with just 17 percent saying they'd drift over and vote for Democratic President Joe Biden.
Among just Trump supporters in South Carolina, 88 percent expressed that he should stay on the ticket if convicted, with 90 percent saying they'd still cast a vote for him.
Trump supporters believed he was a stronger candidate than Haley to go up against Biden in the fall, despite Haley's ability to attract independents and conservative Democrats.
Among Trump supporters in South Carolina, 42 percent said they believed he would 'definitely' beat Biden in November, while another 29 percent said they believed Trump would 'probably' beat Biden.
The poll indicated that Trump-supporting South Carolinians were more doubtful about Haley's ability to beat Biden - with just 21 percent saying she would definitely beat the Democrat and another 42 percent saying she would probably beat him.
Only about a third, 32 percent, of Republicans supporting Haley believed Trump could beat Biden in November's general election.
