What Went Down At The South Carolina Primary

Just last week, it looked like black voters were divided among Biden, Sanders and Steyer, with no candidate receiving a majority of their support. Black voters often turn out as a bloc, and no Democrat has won the nomination since 1992 without their backing. Whether Biden could coalesce that bloc tonight was an open question and it looks like he’s done it. According to exit polls, he received 60 percent of the black vote in South Carolina. (Black voters are approximately 55 percent of the electorate).

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.