CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) - Former President Donald Trump holds a solid lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in South Carolina with about five weeks until Election Day, according to a new poll. The poll released Wednesday by Winthrop University shows 52% of likely voters would vote for Trump and 42% would vote for Harris, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Less than 5% of voters said they were undecided. The figure -- only one point less than the 11-point margin of victory for Trump over Biden in 2020 – is unsurprising given South Carolina’s position as a longstanding GOP stronghold. South Carolina voters have supported a Republican for president in 13 of the last 14 presidential elections. The only exception came in 1976 when voters backed Jimmy Carter. Moreover, Republican primary voters in the Palmetto State have remained fiercely loyal to the former president since 2016. He defeated former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley by 20 points in the state’s Feb. 24 GOP primary. The Latest: Trio of crises loom over final the campaign’s final stretch The poll also tested the attitudes of the general population toward top national and state elected officials. More than half of South Carolinians said they disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president. Nearly 90% of Republicans disapproved, while 72% approved of Biden’s job performance. “Not surprisingly, Joe Biden is not particularly popular in South Carolina,” Dr. Scott Huffmon, director of the Winthrop Poll, said, noting that Biden’s approval rates are ten points lower than his national ratings. As for Gov. Henry McMaster, 45% of respondents said they approve of the way he is handling his job as governor but nearly a quarter said they were unsure. South Carolinians view Sen. Tim Scott more favorably than Sen. Lindsey Graham, according to the poll, with 44% approving of the way Scott handles his job as senator compared to 36% approval for Graham. "McMaster's support among Republicans in South Carolina is currently higher than both Tim Scott's and Lindsey Graham's approval ratings," Huffmon pointed out. People were further asked to rate their level of concern over certain issues in America, including election security, illegal immigration, opioid addiction, the country turning its back on God, and difficulty voting on a scale of one to 10. The poll found that Republicans were more likely to believe that election security, illegal immigration, and the country turning its back on God were serious problems compared to Democrats. The parties were virtually tied on the seriousness of opioid addiction. "Concerns about election security have been a strong part of the Republican narrative since the 2020 election, and South Carolina Republicans seem to have taken those concerns to heart," Huffmon said. "That said, while the Republican average was notably higher than that for Democrats, the Democratic average was above the midline. This raises the question of whether Democrats have been open to the Republican messaging or whether 'election security' means something different to them." A similar trend is evident when it comes to illegal immigration with the average score among Republicans at 9.0 and Democrats' average at 6.4, Huffmon observed. "Again, while we see that concern over illegal immigration is extremely high among Republicans, it is also somewhat high among Democrats," he said. "The framing of the issue by use of the common term ‘illegal’ is likely to push all respondents toward greater concern. Past Democratic efforts to change the framing from ‘illegal’ to ‘undocumented’ have failed to take root, with even the mainstream media commonly applying the term ‘illegal.’“ Neither Democrats nor Republicans said they believe difficulty voting is a serious problem in America, according to the poll, with the average for the issue at 3.5. The survey was conducted online and via phone between Sept. 21 and Sept. 29, 2024. The general election will be held on Nov. 5.