COLUMBIA, S.C. — Donald Trump and Nikki Haley have thrown insults at each other over the last few weeks as the South Carolina Republican primary inches closer.
“Birdbrain,” “incompetent,” “unhinged,” and many more terms were used. Yet, they never got on stage together to debate policy, or strengths and weaknesses as candidates. Do South Carolina voters care?
Those who attended the Haley town hall this week said there should have been a debate. But those at the Trump town hall in Greenville on Tuesday were indifferent.
Leah Veldhoven attended the Fox News town hall Sunday in downtown Columbia where Nikki Haley answered questions, Veldhoven wished she had gotten a chance to see the two debate because it would have pulled Haley into the light more than she has been, she said.
“Even though she’s all over the news quite a bit, I still feel like there’s lots of people that don’t know what she’s all about, and what she truly wants to do for the country,” Veldhoven said.
Amery Davis, who also attended the Haley town hall, said Trump needed to debate Haley, and he needed to do it “now.”
“He could say what he wants to say, he’s not able, he can’t keep up with her. He couldn’t keep up with her when she was an ambassador. She would always try and clean up his mess.”
In late January at a rally in South Carolina, Haley referenced Trump saying he would score higher than her on a mental competency test. “Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t. But what I said was ‘OK, if that’s the case, then get on a debate stage and let’s go. Bring it Donald, show me what you got,” she told the crowd.
Jackson Gosnell, a University of South Carolina student studying broadcast journalism, said he thought a debate allows voters a “better opportunity of who to choose.”
“A lot of people could argue that it’s not going to change anyone’s mind. But maybe it would. I mean, we haven’t…
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