The win in MI means Sanders will split the state’s delegates with Clinton. In a Tuesday interview with Hugh Hewitt, Rubio said he’d stay in the race until the March 15 contest in Florida. At the same time, Sanders boosted his standing among the blue-collar, white voters who were Clinton’s strength in her first run for the presidency in 2008. This after polls put Sanders behind Clinton in MI by 20 points or more.
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Donald Trump’s easy victories in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii left his rivals with shrinking opportunities to slow his momentum in the Republican primaries and little indication that intense efforts to undermine his credibility are pushing voters away from the brash billionaire. But it was MI on which the candidates had focused resources and presence, and MI that defined the night in the worst of ways for Clinton.
Next Tuesday’s contests could substantially shake up the Republican contest. Trump’s main rival now, Texas Sen.
Meantime, the Democratic race, which had seemed headed toward a preordained end, suddenly took a turn toward the unexpected. But her loss to Sanders exposed troubling weaknesses for Clinton which she needs to address tonight.
While Mr Sanders upset Mrs Clinton in MI, she still extended her delegate lead and is now halfway to the number needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.
Mr. Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, said MI signalled “that we are a national campaign” with wins in different regions of the country. He then reiterated his campaign message, specifically calling out “people in MI, people in OH, people in IL”.
The results from Tuesday’s four primary and caucus states are in: three wins for Trump, one each for Clinton and Cruz, and one surprising, narrow victory for Sanders.
She won 8 in 10 black voters in her recent Virginia victory.
But Sanders still beat expectations by winning MI, with some speculating that Clinton’s attacks against Sanders and claims that he opposed the auto bailout backfired. Unsurprisingly, he led among young voters under age 45. Bernie Sanders by a margin of 62 percent to 32 percent among likely Florida Democratic voters. By contrast, IL has a higher concentration of African American voters, which gives her an advantage.
The dynamics of the 2016 presidential race are forcing a lot of issues that establishment candidates in both parties would rather ignore. Marco Rubio is 23 points behind Trump and isn’t even doing much better than Sen. About 3 in 5 Michigan Democrats said in exit polls they thought trade had cost Americans jobs, and Sanders easily won those voters.
Sanders also renewed his attack on Clinton for failing to release transcripts of her speeches to top financial institutions after she left the State Department.
Last week Trump won conservative Alabama and moderate MA. It’s working in the industrial Midwest (Michigan) and in Southern states (Mississipi).
If Rubio and Kasich can not win in their home states, the Republican primary contest appears set to become a two-person race between Trump and Cruz. Sanders said he’d come up with a plan “many months before she did”. Together, nearly 9 in 10 GOP voters in both states were disgruntled.
Always known for his bold and arrogant statements, Donald Trump has nevertheless delivered on a large portion of these statements, showing he is exhibiting confidence and not just empty braggadocio. Marco Rubio simply is not a viable GOP candidate. Sanders even paused at one point to make fun of his own pronunciation of “huge” as “yuge”.
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Democratic voters were less disturbed than Republicans.
