Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders participating in the PBS NewsHour Presidential Primary Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Feb. 11, 2016. Nevada’s Democratic caucuses, meanwhile, will serve as a first test of how Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders play before a more diverse electorate after the mostly white contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
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“The future that we want is within our grasp”, the former secretary of state, first lady and senator told cheering supporters after her Nevada win. She added “This one is for you”.
“Clinton captured the backing of voters who said electability and experience were important in their vote”.
Those who cared most about the economy were about evenly divided between Clinton and Sanders, the surveys found. She had the edge on health care; he did on income inequality – his mantra in the campaign.
For Sanders, strong showings in March are more important because of Clinton’s lead with superdelegates – the party leaders who can support any candidates regardless of how their states vote. That is seen as promising news ahead of Saturday’s primary in SC, where she has a 20-point poll lead, and where the large black population has always been considered Clinton-friendly.
Voting is under way in the South Carolina Republican primary, where frontrunner Donald Trump hopes to overcome a slide in the polls and Ted Cruz is hoping for a repeat of a performance in Iowa, where he defied polls and defeated Trump by 4 points. Republicans need 1,237 delegates to win the party nomination.
Rubio congratulated Trump for his victory and praised Bush, but said tonight he’s a step closer to being the next president.
If there’s anything orderly about the GOP slugfest, it was the consistency of preference polls in SC.
Marco Rubio and Bush were fighting to establish themselves as credible alternatives to Trump and Cruz, candidates some GOP leaders believe are unelectable in November.
The results of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary provided a snapshot of voter sentiments in the Midwest and New England.
Cruz’s most prominent super PAC is investing heavily in Nevada, most recently spending $573,000 on a television ad campaign in the state.
Marco Rubio edged out Ted Cruz for second place, according to complete but unofficial results.
“Trump can’t win, plain and simple”, Bush told reporters outside a polling place in Greenville.
In the race for the White House, it’s been showdown Saturday. What the polls don’t show, of course, is whether any Jeb Bush supporters will shift over to Rubio now that the former Florida governor has dropped out.
SC voters will take to their local polling stations today to vote for their Republican candidate of choice.
Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, has energized voters, particularly young people, with his impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and providing free tuition at public colleges and universities. “Trump now has 61 delegates, and he needs 1,237”, he wrote. That strategy was partially successful at best, with an entrance poll suggesting Mr Sanders had in fact won 53 per cent of the Latino vote – a figure quickly disputed by Ms Clinton’s team.
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Democrats and Republicans will swap locations in the coming days. The retired Maryland neurosurgeon invested in SC and had some early success, raising more money in the state past year than any other GOP candidate.
