Hillary Clinton has maintained a nearly 50-point lead over Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley in the early primary state of South Carolina, a new poll released Tuesday has found.
A new Monmouth University survey of likely Democratic primary voters in the state shows Hillary Clinton’s overwhelming support among black voters.
Overall, the poll found Clinton’s support in the Palmetto State to be 69%, a 48-point lead over Sanders with 21% support. Clinton has an even greater lead among black voters, with 77% support over Sanders’ 12%. O’Malley has 1% of the statewide Democratic vote, 3% of white Democrats and 0% support among black Democrats in South Carolina.
The findings are similar to a poll released last week from Winthrop University, which found that likely primary voters were leaning toward Clinton with 71% of the vote. She had an even larger lead among African-American voters with 80% support in that poll.
As has been found in other polls, Clinton’s strength here stems partly from positive views of her among black Democratic primary voters. When asked which Democratic candidates would do a good job addressing the concerns of African-Americans, 75% of blacks said Clinton would, while only 40% said the same for Sanders.
Last month, Clinton met with Black Lives Matter activists to discuss race and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Monmouth University surveyed 400 South Carolina voters from November 4 to 9. The margin of error was 4.9% overall, 8.5% for whites and 6% for blacks.