What Went Down On Super Tuesday
As we expected, the states today differ quite substantially in terms of the racial composition of the electorate, ranging from 95 percent white in Maine to 44 percent white in Texas. Texas and California also have substantial Latino shares of their populations — 32 and 28 percent, respectively — while Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and Alabama have large black shares of the Democratic electorate. And as Geoff pointed out, all four of those latter states have been called for Biden, in large part because of his overwhelming lead among black voters.
Four states with large black primary electorates (at least 20 percent) have all been called for Biden, so I took a look at the vote breakdown among that group and how much weight they had in those contests. Biden won at least 60 percent of black voters in Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, while no other candidate won more than 20 percent. Even though Bloomberg had seemingly made gains among black voters only a couple weeks ago, their support for him has not panned out in these states.
Black voters have been behind Biden on Super Tuesday
Vote share by candidate among black voters in called Super Tuesday states with large black share of electorates, according to preliminary exit poll data
| State (% Black) | Biden | Sanders | Bloomberg | Warren |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama (44%) | 72% | 12% | 9% | 4% |
| North Carolina (27%) | 63 | 16 | 10 | 5 |
| Virginia (27%) | 71 | 16 | 7 | 5 |
| Tennessee (26%) | 62 | 18 | 12 | 4 |
ABC News now projects that Sanders will win the Colorado primary. Remember as we move farther out West, this primary night could change in Sanders’s favor!