What Went Down At The South Carolina Primary

Forty-seven percent of voters in the exit poll said Clyburn’s endorsement was important to them, and 56 percent of those voters went for Biden. There’s a question here about cause and effect — people may be saying that the endorsement mattered because they liked Biden in the first place. (And for what it’s worth, Biden didn’t do especially well with late-deciding voters in the exit poll.) Still, it certainly didn’t hurt Biden, and it may be a sign that the party rallying to Biden’s side could help him after all.

From the gender breakdown in exit polls, you can infer an approximate topline of Biden 44-45, Sanders 21-22, Steyer ~12, Buttigieg ~9, Warren ~8.

Sure. In a caucus, the exit polls only show initial vote preferences, and people can realign if their candidate doesn’t get 15 percent. And in the Nevada caucuses in particular, there was a combination of early voting and Election Day voting that the state was attempting for the first time, which added further complications. Plus, the pre-election polling is generally less accurate in caucuses, which means one’s priors are weaker. I think the decision desks were correct to wait on Nevada.