If voters are focused on immigration, as the preliminary exit polling shows, that almost certainly plays to Trump’s strengths. In a February poll from The Citadel School of Humanities and Social Sciences, 85 percent of likely GOP primary voters in South Carolina said that they supported the use of state funds under Gov. Henry McMaster’s order to deploy South Carolina National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border last year, while just 11 percent opposed the decision. Among South Carolina voters overall, 57 percent supported the decision, while 35 percent opposed it. This echoes Trump’s position on the issue.

—Mary Radcliffe, 538

I’m reminded that in 2022, Haley stuck her neck out for 1st District Rep. Nancy Mace when Mace faced a Trump-endorsed challenger in the GOP primary. Haley even cut an ad for Mace who went on to defeat her opponent by just 8 points. Mace returned the favor by endorsing Trump over Haley in this year’s primary.

—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections

As they cast their ballots for the former president, many Palmetto State voters had immigration and economy on the brain, according to preliminary results from ABC News exit polling. A staggering 71 percent said they trusted Trump more on border security, compared to 27 percent who said they trusted Haley more, and by 69 percent said they trusted Trump more on the economy. They were unconvinced by Haley’s recent pivot to frame Trump as old and incompetent — 71 percent of voters said Trump had both the physical and mental health necessary to be president, while only 59 percent said Haley did.

As Geoffrey wrote earlier this week, the state’s electorate is part of what gave Trump such a sharp edge tonight, and the preliminary exit polling demonstrates it: 61 percent of Republican voters in the exit polling identified themselves as evangelical white Christians, and of them, Trump won 75 percent of the vote.

—Kaleigh Rogers, 538

Update on the delegate watch: At about 24 percent reporting statewide, ABC News projects Trump has won 38 delegates out of 50 so far. That includes 29 delegates for winning the state popular vote and 9 for winning 3 congressional districts. There are 12 delegates from 4 districts where ABC News has yet to make projections — but Trump currently leads every CD by at least 10 points! But in the district that would be most favorable to Haley, CD-01, home to Charleston, we have few votes. So she could end up getting 3 delegates tonight ... in her home state.

—G. Elliott Morris, 538

The Republican presidential primary started out in territory pretty friendly to Haley. That changes after today, making the South Carolina primary a sort of last chance for the former Palmetto State governor to prove she actually has a path to the 1,215 delegates necessary to secure the GOP nomination. It looks somewhere between unlikely and impossible that she'll be able to pull that off.

It's all about the numbers. According to the polls, Trump leads Haley by about 30 points among likely Republican primary voters. But his delegate lead is what really matters — and it's likely to be even larger. That's because the South Carolina Republican Party awards its delegates on a winner-takes-all basis. About half the delegates will go to the winner of the statewide vote (almost certainly Trump) and the remainder will go to the winner of each of the state's seven congressional districts. With a 30-point statewide victory, Trump would probably win every district resoundingly; in 2016, the largest difference between Trump's statewide margin (10 points) and his margin in the most anti-Trump county (which he lost by 5 points to Marco Rubio) was only 15 points.

This is all disastrous news for Haley, who needs all 50 delegates from the state to be on track to win the Republican nomination. The competition on and after Super Tuesday will be even tougher. According to the math powering 538's delegate benchmarks, Trump is leading Haley by around 57 points in California and 69 in Texas, the states with the largest delegate hauls on Super Tuesday. Those states also allocate delegates on a winner-takes-all basis, as long as a candidate wins at least 50 percent of the vote.

The primary, in other words, is functionally over. But because Trump has not yet clinched a majority of delegates, Haley's campaign technically has a chance of winning. It's just very, very low.

—G. Elliott Morris, 538