Things We Learned From Hillary Clinton's Nevada Victory

Things We Learned From Hillary Clinton's Nevada Victory

COURTESY: CARRIE Dann- NBC News

 

1.Clinton's appeal to traditional Democrats paid off.

At an MSNBC town hall two days before the caucuses, Hillary Clinton made her first direct attack on Sanders' political affiliation, saying that "Senator Sanders wasn't really a Democrat until he decided to run for president." In Nevada, where 80 per cent of the electorate described themselves as traditional Democrats rather than as independents, it was a strategy that worked. Among the eight-in-ten self-described Democrats who participated in Saturday's caucuses, 58 per cent supported Clinton, versus just 40 per cent who backed Sanders. And while Sanders won by an overwhelming three-to-one margin among self-described independents, their share of the electorate was too small to boost him to victory.

2.Unions made a difference.

In the mid-day Nevada contest, labour unions hold significant sway, particularly in union-dominated casinos in Las Vegas. In Saturday's contest, 28 per cent of voters said that they or someone in their household belonged to a labour union. While Sanders and Clinton ran about even with those NOT affiliated with a union, Clinton bested Sanders with labour-affiliated voters by 11 points.

3.She performed relatively well with liberals.

In New Hampshire, where Sanders notched a 22 point victory over the former secretary of state, Clinton badly lost both voters who described themselves as liberal and those who called themselves more moderate. But in Nevada, her margins with liberals looked much like they did in Iowa, holding Sanders to a single digit advantage with liberals and beating him decisively among moderate and conservative Democratic caucus-goers.

 

4.Sanders may have exceeded expectations with minority voters, but it wasn't enough.

 Early entrance polls showed Sanders leading Clinton by high single digits among Hispanic voters, a margin that political experts are eying with skepticism after seeing the final results in the state. But even if Sanders did better than expected with Latinos, Clinton's apparent dominance with African-American voters - who made up about 13 percent of the electorate -- boosted her to an overall double-digit lead among non-white voters and helped underscore her campaign's argument that Sanders can't be as competitive with minority voters as she can.