President Donald Trump's endorsement in South Carolina's special Republican primary appears to be falling flat — even among his own voters — in the weeks leading up to the Aug. 25 contest.

The special election was triggered by the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in July. Graham's sister, state Sen. Darline Graham Nordone, entered the race to fill her brother's seat and quickly secured Trump's backing. However, both polling and focus group data indicate the endorsement has done little to fend off Republican challengers, The Bulwark reports. The contest marks a relatively rare Senate special election — a format that compresses what would normally be a multi-month primary campaign into a matter of weeks, leaving candidates little time to build name recognition and voters little time to scrutinize the field.

Bulwark founder Sarah Longwell, who regularly conducts surveys with Trump supporters, found that the president's 2024 base has shown little enthusiasm for his latest pick.

"She has a master's and she's helped people that are blind and she's a lovely woman advocate. But I don't feel like she has the experience," said one female 2024 Trump voter.

Another Trump supporter, a man, expressed concern over the compressed timeline. "What worries me is how quick this has to happen. [There's] a rush to make an emotional decision for a lot of people and that emotional decision being we're going to vote in Lindsey Graham's sister because it's that emotional pull. I will not. I have been researching candidates. I will continue to research candidates and make an informed decision."

"I think she'll probably win," lamented another female Trump voter. "… I'm just concerned about the lack of experience. Other than that, I don't know a lot about her. I do feel like this is rushed. We don't have time to kind of dig in as much as we probably should. But yeah, I don't like the lack of experience."

Longwell observed that Darline Graham attempted to check off major conservative talking points in her first campaign advertisement, but Longwell was unimpressed with the substance.

"She hits the main ones, you know, 'no men in women's sports' because God knows that's the biggest issue facing Americans today. Yeah. And also, 'I'll make sure that only American citizens can vote,' which is actually already the law. So cool," said Longwell.

"It's an open question as to whether that's enough to get her to more than 50 percent in the primary … on Aug. 25," said Associated Press national politics reporter and Bulwark guest host Meg Kinnard. Under South Carolina Republican Party rules, a candidate must clear 50 percent to avoid a runoff, meaning a splintered field could force a second round of voting even if Graham Nordone finishes first.

For the Trump voters surveyed by The Bulwark, neither the candidate's conservative messaging nor the president's blessing appeared sufficient.

"Another concern for me is that with Trump, it's kind of like he wants her to take his place because I almost feel like he feels like he can just mold her into doing whatever he wants," complained another female Trump voter. "And I know that's not a nice thing to say, but I … kind of get that vibe from him. And when they were doing the funeral in Washington, D.C., some of the things that [Trump] said, I kind of felt it was from a place that because he doesn't really know her. … It was kind of like, 'well, let's get her in there and, you know, she'll do what I want.'"