Hillary Clinton continues to hold a commanding lead over her main Democratic primary competitor Bernie Sanders, in South Carolina following the state’s primary forum Friday.
Clinton now leads Sanders by nearly 50 points, 69 percent to 21 percent, in the first in the southern primary state, according to a Monmouth poll released Tuesday.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2575923
Both Clinton and Sanders participated in forum along with Martin O’Malley, answering questions about their respective campaigns and platforms. Although many said that Sanders outperformed Clinton in the South Carolina forum, voters in the state still prefer the front-runner.
The former secretary of state also continues to be viewed as the candidate most likely to address the concerns of African-American voters. Seventy-four percent of voters say that she would do an “excellent or “good’ job handling the concerns of racial minorities, whereas only 51 percent of voters believe Sanders would do an “excellent” or “good” job at this. Similarly, 75 percent of black voters trust Clinton whereas only 40 percent of black voters said they would trust Sanders.
“Sanders has been trying to make inroads with core Democratic constituencies, including black voters. South Carolina will be the first test of his appeal with that bloc. He is not faring well,” director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute Patrick Murray said.
The Democratic front-runner also has higher favorability ratings than Sanders, with 81 percent viewing her favorably and only 7 percent viewing her unfavorably. Sanders on the other hand, only has a 58 percent favorability rating, with 13 percent viewing him unfavorably. O’Malley’s support stands at 1 percent with 8 percent still remaining undecided.
The poll was conducted from November 5 to 8 with 400 likely South Carolina Democratic presidential primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
