Walker edges Bush in South Carolina

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) leads the field of Republican hopefuls in the early voting state of South Carolina, according to a poll released Wednesday from Winthrop University.

Walker takes 13.6 percent support in the poll, followed closely by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) at 12.7 percent.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who became the first major candidate to officially enter the presidential field in late March, came in third at 8.1 percent.

Cruz’s early campaign has been laser-focused on evangelical Christian voters, but Walker and Bush took more support from this group in South Carolina, the poll found.

Walker leads among evangelicals at 13.9 percent, followed by Bush at 12.8 percent and Cruz at 10 percent.

Walker also bests Cruz among those who approve of the Tea Party, taking 18.2 percent support. Cruz came in second with this group at 14.8 percent. Bush came in third with Tea Party voters at 9.2 percent.

In fourth place in the field at large is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who pulled in 7.6 percent support.

Graham says he’s seriously considering running for president, and he could play spoiler in the Palmetto State primary if he follows through. The senator barely registers in most national polls, but he has a solid base of support in his home state.

Still, a majority of voters in South Carolina, 54.9 percent, said they won’t consider voting for Graham. Only businessman Donald Trump (R) got a worse response, with 74 percent saying they wouldn’t consider voting for him.

Rounding out the GOP field are Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) at 6.2 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 5 percent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 4.9 percent each, and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) at 4 percent.

Paul launched his campaign for president midway through the Winthrop University survey, and Rubio launched after the poll had been conducted.

Twenty-five percent of South Carolina voters said they’re unsure who they’ll support.

The Winthrop University poll of 956 adults in South Carolina was conducted between April 4 and April 12, and has a 3.2-percentage-point margin of error.