Bernie Sanders’s romp to the Democratic primaries got slowed in South Carolina, with the 2020 Democratic front-runner’s struggles winning over conservative black voters on full display.
With the race called in Biden’s favor just after polls closed at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sanders looked to finish a distant second or possibly third, winning over mostly white voters. In a primary where roughly 60% of the Democratic primary electorate is black, Sanders was unable to capture enough of these voters substantially to eke through a win.
Sanders’s team remained confident up until the day of voting, with multiple members telling the Washington Examiner earlier this month that it believed its black outreach and efforts to bring in new voters could deliver a surprise win.
His loss does indicate a continued substantial improvement among his performance with minority voters, however. In 2016, Sanders lost in South Carolina to Hillary Clinton, earning just over 26% of the vote and the backing of just 15% of black voters, according to exit polls.
In a far bigger field, it appears as though Sanders won over more black voters this time around, according to early estimates with the state.
Yet other exit polls on Saturday showed the electorate was always primed to hand Biden a win. Roughly 4 in 10 voters said they wanted to return to a politics of the past, compared to a third in Iowa and New Hampshire, while 8 in 10 black voters said they wanted a candidate with the “right experience,” compared to just roughly 50% of white voters.
Other polls found that Biden’s support from black establishment figures such as Rep. James Clyburn made a difference to voters who made up their minds at the last minute.
Although Sanders’s loss in South Carolina means he won’t be wrapping up the nomination just before Super Tuesday, he remains the best-positioned to walk away with the most number of delegates in the field after March 3, when 14 states and entities vote.
In California, recent polls from this month show him with a double-digit lead, similar to Biden’s finish in South Carolina. The latest survey from CNN showed only him with enough support to avoid the 15% support cut-off. California rewards 494 delegates, an important element in piecing together the 1,991 needed to win the Democratic nomination at the party’s national convention this summer.
