Democratic voters reveal they are trying to stop Trump from steamrolling Nikki Haley in her home state because they think ex-president will bring 'fascism' to the White House and think 'democracy would be at serious risk'

• South Carolina’s Republican primary is open to any registered voter who did not already cast a ballot in the state’s Democratic primary on February 3
• Anti-Trump Republicans were joined by Democrats in casting ballots for Haley in an effort to close the gap
• Haley signaled she would welcome support from wherever she could get it

Democrats were out Saturday in South Carolina casting votes for Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley in hopes of pushing former President Donald Trump from the November ballot.

DailyMail.com interviewed voters in Columbia and North Charleston and found Democrats, independents and Libertarians who were trying to give the former U.N. ambassador a boost amid dismal polling showing her a whopping 30 points behind Trump in her home state.

‘Let’s just say I’ve voted because I’m really concerned about this country and I voted for Nikki Haley,’ Becky, 64, told DailyMail.com when leaving Ben Arnold Community Center in Columbia on Saturday afternoon.

Alan, 40, says he leans more Democratic but came to vote in the Republican primary for Haley because he is ‘against fascism.’

‘Seems like the anti-fascism party is kind of the Democrat party right now,’ he said.

Democratic and anti-Trump Republicans are turning out to cast their ballot for Nikki Haley in an effort to close the gap with Donald Trump in the South Carolina primary election on Saturday

The organization PrimaryPivot actively encouraged Democrats to forgo their own primary to participate in the GOP one. PrimaryPivot co-founder Robert Schwartz (right) and senior adviser for South Carolina Tiffany James (left) were outside the Ben Arnold Community Center polling place in Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday prompting voters to cast their ballot against Trump

Both Columbia and Charleston are more blue-leaning areas of the red state of South Carolina – but still, the turnout is indicative of how anti-Trump parts of the GOP are leaning and how motivated Democrats are trying to foil the former president’s chances of making it to the general election.

South Carolina has an open primary, so anyone registered to vote in the state can participate as long as they did not cast a ballot in the Democratic presidential primary on February 3.

Only about 130,000 voted in that primary, leaving a lot of Democrats free to vote in the Republican primary.

‘I’m a Democrat, flat out,’ 54-year-old social worker Cynthia Plasters said as she voted alongside her husband at the Hunley Park Elementary School in North Charleston.

She said she voted in Saturday’s Republican primary ‘because I don’t want Trump to be on the ballot, that is exactly why.’

‘Because I hate Trump. I hate Trump. I think he is a criminal and I think he’s corrupt in every way and I think he’s awful,’ Plasters said.

Her husband Chad, 52, also voted for Haley but is an independent.

He chose the former South Carolina governor because his values ‘align more with Nikki than with Trump.’

The organization PrimaryPivot was actively encouraging Democrats to forgo their own primary to participate in the GOP one.

The group spent more than $100,000 ahead of the South Carolina primary.

They obtained voter files, had three rounds of texts and ran radio ads.

Ahead of the Democratic primary earlier this month the group sent texts to 207,000 voters who participated in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary urging them to instead vote in the GOP primary to put up a fight against Trump.

‘It’s not about being pro-Nikki Haley, it’s about lowering Trump’s margins,’ said PrimaryPivot co-founder Robert Schwartz. ‘Every Nikki Haley voter is saying Trump and MAGA is pushing them away.’

‘In the unlikely event she wins, our democracy survives,’ Schwartz said.

Voters in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina cast their ballots Saturday afternoon in the state’s Republican primary election

Their push in South Carolina comes as Trump was leading Haley by double digits in polls of likely Republican voters leading up to the first-in-the-south primary. The group also worked to mobilize voters in New Hampshire and is looking ahead to Michigan.

Haley, herself, has signaled she would take any support she can get.

‘Anybody can vote in this election as long as they didn’t vote in the Democratic primary on February 3. I need you to get out and vote,’ Haley told a crowd of supporters on the eve of the election. ‘I need you to take five people with you. I need you to make sure you call your friends, email everybody you know.’

Christina Pritchard, 28, told DailyMail.com that she voted for Haley because she’s ‘nervous about Donald Trump.’

She was there casting her ballot with Jonathan Pritchard, 38, who said that Haley only really has a future in politics ‘if there ever becomes a post-MAGA era.’

Zenda Leaks, 61, also came out to cast a ballot for Haley on Saturday. She has voted candidate over party in the past and thought Haley did a decent job as governor.

‘I’m also very, very concerned that if Donald Trump gets in, some of the things that he’s saying he’s going to do, I believe him,’ Leaks stressed. ‘I think our democracy would be at serious risk if he got back in, so I voted for Nikki.’

In North Charleston, 42-year-old Stephen Miller, who works at a sushi restaurant in Mount Pleasant, said he usually votes for Libertarian candidates but backed Haley on Saturday.

‘I just think it’s time for a new direction. Some younger leadership. And I think she would be less divisive in kind of getting the country back together instead of two polar opposites,’ Miller said.

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