article: The New York real estate mogul has posted a consistently commanding lead in presidential preference polls in the state, which holds its primary election just two weeks after Iowa and New Hampshire. He's made more than a dozen trips there, drawing crowds in the thousands, while the gatherings of his competitors pull in hundreds at best. In fact, across the South - in states like Mississippi, Florida, Texas, Georgia and North Carolina - Mr Trump has been immensely popular. Last August, the candidate gave a speech at a football stadium in Mobile, Alabama, that drew an estimated crowd of 30,000 - orders of magnitude above what any other Republican has tallied. It all makes for a rather unusual attraction, given that Southerners can look askance at brash Northerners like Trump, whom they often derisively refer to as Yankees. Four years ago, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich - from neighbouring Georgia - shocked eventual nominee Mitt Romney with a double-digit win in South Carolina. In 2008, Mike Huckabee - a former governor of Arkansas - dominated the Deep South, taking five states. Rudy Giuliani, the last New Yorker to mount a serious campaign for the Republican nomination, was trounced in South Carolina and Florida, and killed his campaign before the other Southern states voted. But as Donald Trump stood in a packed basketball arena on Friday in Rock Hill, South Carolina - the state where the first shots of the US Civil War were fired - it appeared clear that the New York businessman's appeal transcends accents and upbringing. "He'll take the South," said Thomas Goodson of Harksville, South Carolina. "No doubt about it." He added that he found the candidate's New York bluntness refreshing. "He tells you like it is, and it hits you right, square between the eyes." Goodson was one of a crowd of more than 6,000 cheering for Mr Trump that night, and the candidate basked in the adoration. "South Carolina is a special place," Mr Trump said to cheers. "They're all saying how well I do in South Carolina, like, beyond any place. I want to just thank you." He pointed to one man standing near the front of the stage. "This guy, he's been to 10 of my rallies," he said. "He's like a brother to me, this one." Mr Trump spoke for nearly an hour - despite repeated interruptions from protesters - with his usual string of derisive comments about his political opponents and calls for a strong US foreign policy, a border wall with Mexico and a temporary prohibition of Muslims entering the country. "They say my tone isn't nice," he said. "They're killing us all over the world. Who the hell cares? We've got to have a tough tone." Patty Teter of York, South Carolina, said that she didn't find Mr Trump's tough tone, delivered in his sharp New York accent, at all disagreeable. "Contrary to popular belief, Southerners are a lot tougher than we look," she said, adding that Mr Trump's carnival-style rally - complete with popcorn concessions and souvenir vendors - was
summary: When Donald Trump takes the stage at the Republican debate in Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday night, he'll have an unlikely home field advantage.