IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Where the Democratic Race Stands Going Into South Carolina

Hillary Clinton’s victory over Bernie Sanders Saturday in Nevada was a big win for the campaign.
Image: Democratic U.S. presidential candidates Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrive on stage before the start of the PBS NewsHour Democratic presidential candidates debate in Milwaukee
Democratic U.S. presidential candidates Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wave as they arrive on stage before of the start of the PBS NewsHour Democratic presidential candidates debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Jim YoungJIM YOUNG / Reuters

Hillary Clinton’s victory over Bernie Sanders Saturday in Nevada was a big win for the campaign.

Clinton performed well with black voters in Nevada, an important voting bloc heading into the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday. In 2008, 55 percent of the South Carolina electorate was black.

Data from the latest NBC News|SurveyMonkey Weekly Election Tracking poll conducted online from Feb 15-21 shows that nationally, Clinton maintains a double-digit lead over Sanders among black voters — 65 percent to 22 percent. She also maintains her overall national lead 51 percent to 40 percent.

While Clinton holds strong support among black voters nationally, her support among Hispanic voters is not nearly as strong. One of the questions headed into Nevada on Saturday was where Hispanic voters — a significant share of the Nevada electorate — would place their support. In 2008, Clinton did well among this group. According to Nevada entrance polls, however, Sanders bested her among this group 53 percent to 45 percent. Nationally, our poll shows that the race is tight among Hispanics. Results from the latest week of polling show Clinton ahead of Sanders by just 3 points among Hispanics — 46 percent to 43 percent.

This slight advantage over Sanders does not hold across all Hispanic age groups, however. When further breaking down Hispanic support, Sanders’ strong popularity among millennial voters holds. Sanders does better than Clinton among Hispanic voters under age 35 by 26 points — 60 percent to 34 percent. For Hispanic voters older than 35, however, Clinton is the favorite over Sanders by nearly the same margin — 30 points.

The NBC News|SurveyMonkey Weekly Election Tracking data for the week of February 15, 2016 through February 21, 2016 was conducted among a national sample of 11,662 adults aged 18 and over, including 10,386 who say they are registered to vote. Respondents for this survey were selected from the nearly three million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. A full description of our methodology and the poll can be found here.