Hillary Clinton wins South Carolina Democratic Primary: exit polls

When the Democratic Party officially names its presidential nominee in July, both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders will likely look back at the SC primary as the race that tilted the balance in her favour.

Clinton’s decisive victory in SC, the first state to vote where black voters make up a majority of the Democratic electorate, bodes well for her in the next round of states that vote Tuesday.

Bernie Sanders and has pushed her as the clear front-runner for the party’s nomination. This time around, Clyburn endorsed Clinton, and her husband was well-received as he traveled the state on her behalf. With all precincts reporting, Clinton beat Sanders by almost 50 points, winning 73.5 percent to 26 percent.

In a statement to the press while on his way from Texas to Minnesota, Sanders said it was still early and that Clinton’s big win matched his blowout in New Hampshire, telling reporters after he landed that he expected to get “lots of delegates on Tuesday”.

“Despite what you hear, we don’t need to make America great again, America has never stopped being great”, she told cheering supporters in Columbia after the win.

Among early voters, Alicia Newman, a 31-year-old elementary school teacher from Greenville, said she was torn but ultimately went for Clinton. “She has experience. At this point in the world landscape, we need people with experience”.

If Sanders couldn’t close the gap among African Americans in SC, where he had the most time, money, and resources devoted to introducing himself to the community, then it will be all the more hard in upcoming states.

As Mrs Clinton relished the most sweeping victory of her political career, her focus was already on Super Tuesday. “This campaign goes national”, Clinton said.

By comparison, Mrs Clinton’s win will inject extra energy into her campaign, which is vital going into this week when so many delegates are up for grabs. She won the overwhelming support of black voters on her way to a commanding victory over Vermont Sen.

The victory is her strongest yet in the 2016 primary contest.

Sanders vowed to fight on: “Let me be clear on one thing tonight”. This week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie began campaigning for Trump. If the minority vote in those states breaks in the same way it did last Saturday, Mr Sanders could be in for another painful night.

Johnson said she voted for Bernie Sanders because his stance on education appealed to her.

Her firewall, supporters said, would be her appeal with black voters.

The brawling among Republicans may reinforce Clinton’s argument that she has the temperament and experience to be commander in chief.

As the race with Sanders has grown tighter, Clinton has moved to fully embrace Obama, who remains popular with Democrats and particularly African-American voters.

Clinton assiduously courted black voters, in part by praising Obama and promising to build on his legacy. Meanwhile, Clinton is returning to SC for a primary night event following a day campaigning in Alabama.

Either way, neither will have enough delegates out of Super Tuesday to mathematically be the nominee (2,383) – though two very different story lines would emerge.