Why AP called South Carolina for Trump: Race call explained

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has easily won the South Carolina primary, dealing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley a resounding defeat in her home state.

The Associated Press declared Trump the winner as polls closed statewide at 7 p.m. The AP based its race call on an analysis of AP VoteCast, a comprehensive survey of Republican South Carolina primary voters. The survey confirms the findings of pre-Election Day polls showing Trump far outpacing Haley statewide.

Declaring a winner as polls close based on the results of AP’s VoteCast survey — and before election officials publicly release tabulated votes — is not unusual in heavily lopsided contests like Saturday’s primary.

VoteCast results show Trump winning on a scale similar to his earlier victories in every contest so far where he appeared on the ballot. In South Carolina, he is winning by huge margins in every geographic region of the state, from Upcountry in the north to Low Country on the Atlantic coast.

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