Nikki Haley votes in the South Carolina Republican primary: Defiant Republican bracing for defeat is all smiles as she casts ballot with mom Raj and her children in her wealthy gated community on Kiawah Island

Nikki Haley was all smiles Saturday as she arrived to her polling place in her wealthy gated community on Kaiwah Island, South Carolina to vote for herself in the state's Republican primary. 

Haley pushed her mother Raj in a wheelchair and was accompanied by son Nalin, daughter Rena and Rena's husband Joshua as they voted near the Haleys' $2.4 million waterfront home, which she and husband Michael purchased in October 2019 after she left her job as ambassador of the United Nations and joined Boeing's board. 

The 2024 hopeful stood over her mother to help her vote and then told reporters how her mother was educated to be one of the first female judges in India but 'because of the times she was never able to sit on the bench.' 

'And so to be able to go and vote with her, to watch her daughter - cast a ballot for her daughter for president of the United States, tells us everything we need to know about how blessed we are to be in this country and so it is with great gratitude that I go in today excited,' Haley said. 'I always love Election Day.' 

She spoke of 'passionate' South Carolinians showing up to their polling places - as public opinion polls show her trailing former President Donald Trump in her home state by an average of 30 points. 

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley pushes her mother Raj to their polling place on Kiawah Island, South Carolina Saturday, to cast ballots in the state's GOP primary, where she's the final rival against frontrunner, former President Donald Trump 

Haley (left) is seen assisting her mother Raj (right) at the polling place Saturday on Kiawah Island. She spoke to reporters about how 'blessed we are to be in this country' after watching her mother cast a ballot for her, a female candidate, in a U.S. presidential primary 

After the New Hampshire primary, the last contest Haley competed in for delegates, she said she aimed to get a higher percentage of the vote share in South Carolina. 

In New Hampshire she received 43.2 percent of the vote to Trump's 54.3 percent. 

Asked by a reporter outside her polling place if she felt she could improve upon that number today, Haley answered, 'We'll find out.'

'We're going to find out today,' she said. 'I think my goal has always been to be competitive in South Carolina.' 

Trump and his allies have voiced frustration that Haley has decided to stay in the 2024 race despite losing in every state. 

She lost to Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire and failed to beat 'none of these candidates' - a symbolic vote for Trump - in Nevada's non-binding Republican primary. 

Haley said she will press on to Michigan this week, where voters head to the polls Tuesday, and she's already scheduled campaign stops in Super Tuesday states - despite the fact that she'll likely get trounced by Trump in South Carolina today. 

Nikki Haley heads to her polling place Saturday on Kiawah Island, South Carolina with mom Raj, son Nalin, daughter Rena and her son-in-law Joshua as she braces for a potential loss to former President Donald Trump in her home state

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley arrives with her mother Raj, son Nalin, daughter Rena and Rena's husband Joshua to casts their votes in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary

Nikki Haley and her husband Michael, who is currently deployed, purchased a $2.4 million waterfront home in a gated community on Kiawah Island, South Carolina in 2019, after she left her post at the United Nations and joined the board of Boeing 

A real estate listing for the home says it boasts a waterfront view, has a pool and hot tub and is a four bedroom, 4.5 bath. Haley's parents also live in the residence  

'People want to see us continue this fight, we owe them to continue this fight,' Haley said. 'The only thing that's lacking in this is Donald Trump getting on a debate stage.'

Haley has progressively been taking a more aggressive stance against Trump, calling him 'unhinged' at a campaign stop in Beaufort this week and hitting him over the head over comments he made about her husband Michael's whereabouts.

As a member of the U.S. military, Michael Haley is on deployment to Africa. 

Asked Saturday if she should have hit Trump harder all along, she said 'not at all. '

'There were 14 people in this race, I had a dozen of the fellas I had to get rid of first, it was taking them out one at a time,' she said. 'Now he is the one-on-one opponent that I have and that's why you see us showing the constrast between me and him.'

'If I had done that at the beginning I would have been a Chris Christie,' she added. 

Christie, the most vocal anti-Trump candidate, dropped out of the Republican race before the Iowa caucuses, but refused to endorse Haley, saying on hot mic that Haley was 'going to get smoked.'