Why Bernie Sanders Is Struggling With Black Voters In South Carolina

After the victory of Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire, the message from Clinton’s camp was clear: the white, liberal state is different from many other parts of the USA and only she could reach out to the electors in Nevada (24 percent Latino) and in SC (28 percent Black). Clinton spent much of the run-up to the Nevada caucuses portraying Sanders as singularly focused on economic issues.

“We actually won the Latino vote yesterday, which is a big breakthrough for us”, Sanders told “Meet the Press”. “Not a lot of people know me, they don’t know my experience, my 25 years in Congress, my eight years as Mayor of the City of Burlington”, he said.

The Times suggested that Clinton didn’t overwhelming win the group like she had in 2008, but she didn’t necessarily lose them to Sanders either.

An ABC News analysis said female caucus-goers in the state are favoring Clinton over Sanders.

“I believe on Super Tuesday, we have got an excellent chance to win many of those states”, Sanders said.

Attention in SC turns to those Democrats after Republican primary voters sent Donald Trump to his second straight election victory. Another 45 percent said they trusted Sanders more to pursue policies that raise the incomes of average Americans, with Clinton polling at 38 percent in the same category. “Americans are right to be angry, but we’re also hungry for real solutions”, she added, a line that seemed aimed at aggrieved voters who like the urgency of Mr Sanders but may doubt he can enact his ambitious agenda.

Sanders strategist Tad Devine, however, noted that his candidate received more votes than any of either party in the history of the New Hampshire primary – which he said proved that the senator could do well in an electoral setting like that state, where independents are allowed to cast ballots in the Democratic primary. He has not been able to chip away very well at her support with African-American voters.

“What I’ve said over and over again, we will do well when young people, when working-class people come out”.

The Clinton campaign started organizing in Nevada weeks earlier, and with more resources.

After the New Hampshire setback, Clinton’s campaign was banking that Sanders would be unable to breach a so-called “firewall” of Hispanic and African-American support for the former Secretary of State in southern and western states. “I don’t typically like to swear on Twitter, but by all accounts so far this is complete and utter bullshit”, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill wrote on Twitter, referring to a Sanders’ campaign press release asserting he took the Latino bloc in Nevada. “I think everyone now acknowledges that’s me”, he said.

Drilling down in the post caucus numbers Sanders does very well with Independents and first-time voters, but Clinton won with rank and file Democrats.

Cruz’s inability to distinguish himself from Rubio in the state was a blow to his campaign, which had invested heavily there to rally support among South Carolina’s large population of evangelical voters.