PPP: Hey Lindsey Graham, Polls Say you Should Drop Out

My favorites polling organization Public Policy Polling is pulling no punches after completing a poll in Lindsey Graham's home state of South Carolina.

PPP's newest South Carolina poll finds a clear message for Lindsey Graham from Republican voters in the state: drop out. 78% of GOP primary voters think Graham should end his Presidential bid, compared to only 15% who think he should continue on with it. 

The campaign has generally hurt Graham's image in the state. When we polled South Carolina in February, 54% of Republican primary voters approved of the job he was doing as Senator to 29% who disapproved. Now his numbers are upside down with only 36% approving of him to 51% who disapprove. Graham was in a tie for 3rd place at 13% in February, now he's dropped down to a four way tie for 8th place at 3%. And perhaps most embarrassing given their long running feud South Carolina Republicans say that if they had to choose between Graham and Donald Trump, they would pick Trump by a 72/20 spread.

You have to wonder if the similar nosedive isn't developing for Rand Paul in Kentucky. PPP goes on:

Of course Graham isn't the only person getting blown out by Trump. Trump leads the field in the state with 37% to 21% for Ben Carson with no one else even polling in double digits. Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz are at 6%, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio are at 4%, Graham, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, and Scott Walker are at 3%, and Rick Santorum is at 2%. Posting negligible support are Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, and Rick Perry each at 1%, and Jim Gilmore and George Pataki at less than 1%...

Rand Paul with a 28/52 favorability rating continues his string of being under water in every place we've polled since the first Republican debate.

Here's PPP on Trump and Carson in South Carolina:

 Trump is winning with every segment of the GOP electorate- he's at 47% with moderates, 40% with men, 39% with Evangelicals, 36% with seniors, 36% with younger voters, 34% with women, and 32% with 'very conservative' voters. He's also becoming more broadly acceptable to Republican voters. 64% have a favorable opinion of him to only 28% with an unfavorable one, the best favorability we've found for him in any state yet. And when matched head to head with Rubio (58/35), Fiorina (56/32), Walker (59/31), and Bush (66/27), Trump blows them all out of the water.

The one exception to that rule is Carson, who edges out Trump 46/45 head to head. Carson is by far and away the most well liked of the GOP candidates with 74% viewing him favorably to only 14% with a negative opinion. Carson is also the only person to hit double digits as voters' second choice, with 18% saying he'd be their back up pick.

  -RW