For Sanders, the roughly 50-point defeat crystalized his weakness with black voters, a crucial segment of the Democratic electorate.
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Favorability among blacks is likely to favor Clinton as the candidates head into March 1 primaries voting, or Super Tuesday, when 11 states run contests for Democrats. Sanders was last in the Palmetto State on Friday after multiple polls predicted Clinton to win the state by a large majority.
As Mrs Clinton relished the most sweeping victory of her political career, her focus was already on Super Tuesday.
“Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers”, Clinton said. “America has never stopped being great”, Clinton declared.
Later, at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, Clinton said that while the United States have “a lot of work to be done”, she remains “confident” in the future.
Hillary Clinton has also shifted from statements and attacks against her Democratic opponent to ones against Donald Trump, who himself appears cruising toward the nomination.
“So I think we do have a path to victory”, he told “Face The Nation” host John Dickerson.
Whatever the polls, Mr Rubio expressed confidence that Mr Trump will not be the Republican presidential nominee.
After a fractious debate Thursday, the two rivals continued to trade insults through interposed Saturday meetings, often on trivial subjects. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have been taking turns making swipes at Trump.
As expected, former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton cruised to a commanding victory by drawing overwhelming support from the state’s black Democrats and putting her in a strong position as the race barrels toward crucial multi-state contests on March -01. “That would mean Sanders needs to win 58% of remaining delegates…to pull even with her. That’s virtually impossible for him to do”. Her church addresses, like her SC victory speech, made no mention of the Vermont senator, or his policy plans.
Clinton allies quickly touted the breadth of her victory.
Two-thirds of white voters under 45 supported Sanders, but among blacks, that group went overwhelmingly for Clinton.
Mr Sanders continued to do well with young voters, his most passionate supporters. The former president has been well-received by voters as he’s travelled the state campaigning for his wife. Her victory may have delivered a crippling blow to the campaign of her only competitor Bernie Sanders whose challenge had seemed to be gaining momentum during the party’s first three primary votes.
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters at the University of SC following her win in the SC primary Saturday night.
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Since launching his campaign, Sanders has had difficulty bringing in black voters, which was probably his biggest downfall in yesterday’s primary. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., takes selfies with the crowd during a campaign rally at the Cox Convention Center Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla., Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016.
