Presidential hopeful Tim Scott is quickly becoming many Republican voters' second choice in the 2024 primary, overtaking fellow candidates Nikki Haley and Mike Pence.
An NBC News poll released Sunday showed that 12 percent of Republican voters favor Scott as their second choice in the primary, an increase of 9 points since April. Scott has surpassed Haley and Pence in this category, trailing only Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who holds 31 percent of the second-place vote.
The South Carolina senator received only 3 percent of the first-choice vote, the same amount that he did in April. These numbers are consistent with nationwide polling, with the RealClearPolitics average showing Scott with 3.5 percent of the Republican primary vote.
Scott also has the third-highest favorability among the current crop of candidates, trailing only DeSantis and former president Donald Trump. Forty-six percent of GOP voters view him positively, compared with 6 percent who view him negatively. Thirty-four percent, however, say they still do not know enough about him to make a judgment.
Trump's first-choice poll numbers increased following his indictment this month, with 51 percent of Republican voters rating him as their first choice, the poll found. DeSantis's numbers, on other hand, have fallen behind since April, from 31 percent to 22 percent.
Throughout his campaign, Scott has focused on expanding opportunity for Americans, touting his rise from poverty to public office. He has faced criticism from liberal politicians and commentators for being a black Republican, notably clashing with hosts on The View over the existence of "systemic racism."