How to watch South Carolina's Republican primary today
On Saturday, South Carolina's Republican voters will show up to the polls across the state to cast ballots in the GOP's third presidential nominating contest.
Republicans will be able to vote for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson and John Kasich. Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina dropped out of the Republican race following last week's New Hampshire primary.
- Watch CBSN for coverage of the South Carolina GOP primary
Polls open across the state 7 a.m. ET and they close at 7 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, Democratic candidates will be facing off across the country at the Nevada caucuses on Saturday. South Carolina holds its Democratic primary on Feb. 27.
The GOP primary comes after feuds between the candidates escalated this week. Trump went after Cruz, threatening to file a lawsuit challenging his eligibility to run for president because Cruz was born in Canada. Trump also sent Cruz's campaign a cease and desist letter demanding that it pull ads using old footage of Trump talking about his previous stance supporting abortion rights.
Trump also got into an exchange with Pope Francis after he suggested that Trump is "not Christian." At CNN's GOP town hall Thursday night, Trump softened his rhetoric and suggested that the pope's comments were misinterpreted.
The billionaire businessman has also aggressively attacked President George W. Bush for his decision to invade Iraq.
"I'll tell you very simply, it may have been the worst decision that anybody, that any president has made, in the the history of this country," he said at the town hall.
Cruz, meanwhile, has attacked Rubio's record on immigration and his campaign even photoshopped an image of the Florida senator shaking hands with President Obama.
Rubio might have benefited the most this week by winning the endorsement of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. This came after former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush lobbied hard for Haley's support.
Trump has consistently led the GOP pack in South Carolina, though some recent polls have indicated a tightening race. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll released Friday, for example, found he now only leads his closest rival, Cruz, by five percentage points with 28 percent support. A Bloomberg Politics poll released Wednesday found Trump with a 19-percentage-point advantage over Cruz. Thirty-six percent said they back Trump and 17 percent support Cruz.
A CBS News national poll released Thursday found Trump with a 17-percentage-point lead over Cruz.
Cruz won the Iowa caucuses earlier this month, and Trump won New Hampshire's GOP primary.
