While Clinton heads into the general election with significant advantages with minority voters and women, Democrats have vowed to not underestimate Trump as his Republican rivals did for too long.
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Heading into Tuesday’s balloting, Clinton led Sanders 2,165 delegates to 1,357, meaning she needed to win less than 18% of the remaining delegates up for grabs to secure the 2,383 delegates required to clinch the nomination.
Among the three in 10 voters who considered honesty the most important quality when deciding which candidate to support, 80 percent backed Sanders.
Unlike the Republican presidential nomination contests, Democratic races allocate pledged delegates proportionally.
Barring a “West Wing” scenario at the Democratic Convention in July, Sanders requires 1,022 more delegates awarded from state primaries to win. When superdelegates are counted, her lead extends to 2,202 to 1,400.
Clinton has 60 percent support in New Jersey to Sanders’ 32 percent and has clear edges in almost every demographic group, including with a group that has been a Sanders sweet spot: voters under 50 (51 percent to 38). Even with the benefit of having no real competition for the “not Hillary” vote, Sanders’ campaign is falling just a little short. One delegate has not said how they will vote.
Pollster John Zogby told Newsmax TV on Tuesday that “Hillary Clinton is a damaged candidate” and that Donald Trump could attack her on several fronts. Polls show a majority of Democrats want him to stay in the race. He soundly won Indiana Tuesday night, yet the media continues to call Hillary Clinton the “presumptive nominee” without blinking.
Sanders has conceded that he faces a hard path, one that hinges on persuading superdelegates to back him over the former secretary of state. “Maybe it’s over for the insiders and the party establishment, but the voters in IN had a different idea”.
However, the lack of winner-take-all states on the Democratic contests makes it very hard for Sanders to close the delegate gap, The New York Times reports. Last week, after losing four of five primaries, Sanders laid off more than 200 staffers and began talking about what will happen “if we do not win”.
Said Dr Dusso: “If he can keep large numbers of individuals energised for the election, he will likely help the Democrats in November”.
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“We understand that we have an uphill climb to victory, but we have been fighting uphill from the first day of this campaign”, Sanders said.
