Clinton Strong in South Carolina But Warning Signs Ahead, Bloomberg Poll Shows
Hillary Clinton holds a commanding lead over Bernie Sanders in South Carolina thanks to a 3-to-1 advantage among African-American voters, according to a Bloomberg Politics poll that shows the Democrats' fourth nominating contest still can be a Clinton firewall to blunt her rival's momentum.
But the survey also carries warning signs for Clinton about where the loyalties of white Southern Democrats lie as the campaigns prepare for the crush of Super Tuesday contests just three days after South Carolina's Feb. 27 primary. And it underscores how crucial it will be for Clinton to sustain her lead with black and Hispanic voters, and turn them out, in those contests and beyond.
The former secretary of state leads Sanders 53 percent to 31 percent in the Bloomberg Politics South Carolina poll of likely Democratic primary voters conducted Feb. 13-17. The survey does not attempt to predict how South Carolina voters may be swayed by whatever happens in the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 20, where polling suggests Clinton is in danger of being overtaken by Sanders, a Vermont senator and self-described democratic socialist.
In South Carolina, where African-Americans account for about half of the Democratic vote, Clinton leads Sanders among black likely Democratic voters, 59 percent to 20 percent. But the state's white likely Democratic primary voters narrowly prefer Sanders, 45 percent to 42 percent, and Sanders is the runaway favorite with whites under 45 in the survey, 67 percent to 22 percent.
"It isn't that Sanders has faded. But she's just holding a commanding lead" in South Carolina, said pollster J. Ann Selzer, whose firm conducted the survey.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-02-18/clinton-strong-in-south-carolina-but-warning-signs-ahead-bloomberg-poll-shows