GOP presidential hopeful Carson rides rising tide back to SC

Conservative grassroots activist Joe St. John started out backing Republican Mike Huckabee’s 2016 presidential primary bid.

But now he’s pinning his hopes on another candidate’s rising tide: Ben Carson.

“People like him because he's genuine and honest,” the Fort Mill-based grass-roots activist said of the retired neurosurgeon who is challenging Donald Trump’s lead in the polls.

And, he added, “We’ve got to win this time.”

On Friday, the GOP rising star, once thought to be a long-shot by political experts, returns to South Carolina.

Carson will take part in a presidential forum with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-North Charleston, at Bob Jones University in Greenville.

Carson’s return to the first-in-the-South primary state follows good news for his campaign. One of two new polls out this week showed, for the first time, that Carson had passed billionaire Donald Trump for the lead in the S.C. primary.

Polling shows that Carson also is favorably viewed by most S.C. evangelical voters, long a bedrock of the S.C. GOP, particularly in the Upstate.

Unlike Trump, some of Carson’s S.C. supporters find his refusal to throw mud at opponents refreshing.

“He's the total opposite of Donald Trump,” said St. John. “Trump talks gruff. Ben talks with a soft voice.”

‘Speaks to the sour mood of Republicans’

Whether the retired neurosurgeon and political newcomer can win the GOP presidential nomination has been a question vexing political experts.

History says he’s a long shot. No candidate without elected political experience has been elected president in almost 70 years.

Questions about Carson’s telling of his biography and the details behind his policy stances also are starting to pour in as he rises in the polls.

For example, reports surfaced Thursday of Carson advocating for lengthy prison sentences for people convicted of health-care fraud but also asking a judge to go easy on a friend convicted of the same crime.

But, so far, Carson “seems to be weathering the questions about did he embellish any earlier stories of his youth," said Furman political scientist Danielle Vinson.

Bigger challenges lie ahead, she added, when the media begin focusing on his policy proposals.

Where the scrutiny leaves Carson in the eyes of voters is difficult to predict, said Citadel political scientist Scott Buchanan, noting this election cycle has defied conventional wisdom.

When Trump entered the race, Buchanan recalls predicting the billionaire businessman – “like a five-year-old with a microphone” – eventually would say something to cause his support to drop.

“I've been dead wrong on that one," Buchanan said. “When I first heard of Ben Carson, I said, ‘He doesn't have any chance.’ Wrong again.

“It speaks to the sour mood of Republican voters at this point,” he said.

‘Impressive for a soft-spoken guy’

Carson’s S.C. campaign has been low-key, building quietly, Carson’s state director Ruth Sherlock said.

Seven paid staffers have opened five offices around the state, signed up 44,000 potential volunteers and built coalitions of supporters, Sherlock said.

Carson has raised more than $260,000 from Palmetto State donors, according to Federal Election Commission data. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is the only candidate to have raised more here.

Carson’s S.C. campaign donations average only about $180, an indication of his grassroots support from small donors, according to federal data.

“I think of it more of a movement, instead of just a campaign,” Sherlock said.

The Bible-college setting for Carson’s Friday campaign stop underscores his appeal to Christian conservatives.

Three in four S.C. GOP voters have a favorable opinion of Carson, according to two Pubic Policy Polling surveys – more than approved of any other GOP presidential candidate.

But some Carson supporters say his status as a political outsider is most attractive.

“I'm just fed up with what's going on in Washington, D.C., and I believe more now than ever that we need someone outside the Beltway to lead,” said state Rep. Josh Putnam, R-Anderson.

Putnam said conservatives are looking for a “different kind of Republican” as their next presidential nominee, noting the GOP has taken control of both chambers of Congress and, still, “nothing happens.

“At some point, you've got to make a stand,” he said.

Teddy Turner of Mount Pleasant said he has been “a fan from afar” of Carson’s ever since he railed against President Barack Obama’s policies at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013 with the president sitting nearby.

Turner thought of Carson: “Who is this guy who has the chutzpah to stand 10 feet from the president and talk about why his policies are wrong?

“That's pretty impressive for a soft-spoken guy. He's carrying a very big stick.”

But it was not until a couple of months ago that Turner decided to back Carson. The two met face-to-face and talked for a while, Turner said, adding that he got to know the candidate.

“He is inspiring, and he's right.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 7:01 PM.