I speculated that Haley would either drop out of the race in the week leading up to the South Carolina primaries or directly after the races were concluded. I noted that if she couldn’t even perform well in the Palmetto State, her team would finally see that it was time to pack it in. But the candidate made it clear after her defeat that she would continue running for the GOP nomination.

The question is: Why?

The former president currently leads Haley in national polling by about 63.4 percent according to the latest RealClearPolling average. Given the overwhelming support Trump enjoys among Republican voters, it is difficult to see how Haley has any path to victory whatsoever. But perhaps she is still banking on the possibility that Trump’s legal troubles might escalate to the point that conservative voters shy away from supporting him at the ballot box.

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling against the national effort to use the 14th Amendment to disqualify Trump from the ballot in multiple states indicates that this particular strategy is now dead in the water. If Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans had managed to persuade the court to uphold Colorado’s decision to remove Trump from the ballot, it could have raised serious questions about the former president’s electability. But that’s not going to happen at this point.

Still, Trump is facing 91 charges spread across a series of politically motivated indictments at the state and federal levels. He is currently battling it out with forces seeking to use the government to stop him from possibly becoming president again. It’s a clear effort to influence the outcome of the upcoming election by burying the candidate in legal battles.

So far, it is hard to tell whether any of these indictments will end with convictions and possible jail time. Most of these cases are not even expected to be concluded before the election is held. Still, in this era of American politics, anything is possible.

Haley could be hanging in there in the off chances that Trump could face jail time, a scenario that polling has shown would harm his chances of winning the nomination. A poll conducted last month revealed that the former president’s campaign could suffer greatly in the event of a successful prosecution.

Nearly a quarter of former President Trump’s supporters say he should not be the Republican nominee for president in 2024 if he is convicted of a crime, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The New York Times/Siena College poll found 24 percent of respondents who said they would vote for Trump in the upcoming election also say he should not be the nominee if found guilty in one of his legal trials, “even if he has won the most votes.”

Another poll showed that a conviction against Trump could also hurt his chances of beating President Joe Biden in the general election, which could also affect Republican voters’ decision whether to support him in the primaries.

The poll, released Wednesday from Bloomberg and Morning Consult, found that 53 percent of voters in key swing states would refuse to vote for Trump if he were convicted of a criminal offense. A slightly higher share, 55 percent, say they would reach that conclusion if he were sentenced to prison.

If those figures are accurate, they could easily decide the election, given how close Trump’s two elections so far, in 2016 and 2020, have been.

A conviction “is absolutely a potential dealbreaker in an election that either [Trump or President Biden] could win or lose for a whole variety of reasons,” said GOP strategist Doug Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee.

This scenario is the only one that would give Haley a fighting chance at winning the GOP nomination, assuming other popular candidates do not choose to re-enter the race if it appears Trump is looking at jail time. But again, it is not looking like this situation is going to materialize, which leads to the next possible reason why the candidate is staying in the race.

Haley could also be looking to remain relevant on the national stage to prepare for another political move in the future. Perhaps she will try running for another office after this election is concluded and would need the war chest she continues to build by continuing to campaign. Maybe she plans to start her own political movement within the GOP to push certain candidates and this is a way for her to cement her standing on the right.

Of course, both motivations could be true. But at this point, there is only one thing that is clear: If things remain the same, there is absolutely no way Haley will win the nomination.