CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, United States (Reuters) — With the Republican race for the party’s 2016 nomination descending deeper into squabbling, South Carolina voters are noticing the increasingly bitter battle now more than ever.
The Palmetto State holds its Republican party primary contest on Saturday (February 20), just days after a televised Republican debate on Wednesday when the race erupted into a four-candidate crossfire over which party candidate has the proper experience and is the most conservative.
In TV interviews and campaign events, front-runner Donald Trump threatened to sue Senator Ted Cruz of Texas over a negative TV ad, while Senator Marco Rubio of Florida accused Cruz of lying about his record, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush questioned Rubio’s experience to serve as president.
Dr. Gibbs Knotts, chair of the political science department at the College of Charleston, said this has been the most volatile race he has ever seen – even by South Carolina standards.
“You almost can’t imagine it’s going to get any more extreme or testy, then it does, the candidates really going after one another,” Knotts told Reuters on Thursday.
“There’s been a history of dirty and volatile politics in the South Carolina primary. Bush and McCain had some real heated battles in 2000. There were some allegations of some dirty tricks. Even in 2008, Bill Clinton famously criticized Obama voters, saying they were throwing their votes away, that it was like voting for Jesse Jackson,” Knotts added. “So there’s a history of this volatility, but I think the 2016 has been among the most volatile and most contentious of any that I’ve certainly seen.”
The South Carolina contest also comes a week after Trump lashed out at rivals Bush and Cruz during a debate in Greenville, South Carolina, interrupting his opponents at will and calling some of them liars.
He made his most blistering attacks against Bush and his brother, former President George W. Bush, who has many admirers in the Republican establishment.
Joe Bustos, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, has noticed the fight.
“Well, politics in South Carolina is always passionate, going back to the last century, it’s been very passionate, and I think this is no different,” Bustos said.
With so much going on this election season, Bustos has found it a challenge to choose a candidate, though he believes his fellow Republicans across the state have two possible names in mind.
“You know, I haven’t made up my mind either and I think the two front runners are probably Trump and Rubio,” Bustos said.
Bustos, who owns and runs a flight training company called Mt. Pleasant Flight Training, said the economy will be the issue that ultimately determines his vote.
“The economy is still important. We’re seeing some ups and downs and of course in a business like this it depends on people’s disposable incomes. It’s really something we have to watch, so I’m looking for those who have policies that will keep the economy healthy and I think those two come together,” Bustos said.
Like Bustos, Jeff Nickles will also be voting on issues related to the economy. Nickles runs an audiovisual company called Production Design Associates. He told Reuters that relief for small businesses is a priority.
“Small business is the backbone of our country and it’s getting harder and harder to do business with taxes and health care regulations and all the things that the government puts down on us,” Nickles said. “It’s hard to make a living when you’re having to deal with all this interference from the government. The government should build an atmosphere where business can flourish and not be meddling in every aspect of the business,” he said.
Nickles declined to name the candidate he supports since his company often works on campaign events, but he was hopeful that the eventual Republican nominee would bring change.
“If things go our way, we’ll see some change in D.C. hopefully if they follow up on their actions and what they talking about,” Nickles said.
South Carolina stands for some as a good barometer for the southern primary states that follow on March 1, also known as ‘Super Tuesday’.
Knotts said it’s a responsibility that South Carolina voters take seriously.
“The Republican voters and the Republican Party have taken a lot of pride in not only being the ‘First in the South’ but picking the winner, picking the people who will win the Republican primary. In between 1980, which was the first ‘First in the South’ primary in South Carolina, up to 2008, they had always picked a winner,” Knotts said.
Polls open Saturday at 7 a.m.