The Nevada caucuses gave Hillary Clinton a close but vital victory in the presidential nomination campaign over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, as the top Democratic candidate acknowledged challenges she has to overcome in terms of winning trust of more voters.
“I understand that voters have questions — I’m going to do my very best to answer those questions. I think there’s an underlying question that maybe is really in the back of people’s minds and that is, ‘Is she in it for us or is she in it for herself?’ ” Clinton said Sunday.
The former first lady and secretary of state under the first Obama Administration told CNN’s “State of the Union” program she would work hard to make her case to the voters. Clinton and Sanders now head to South Carolina and then to March 1 Super Tuesday contests in 11 states.
“I think that’s a question that people are trying to sort through. And I’m going to demonstrate that I’ve always been the same person, I’ve always been fighting for the same values, fighting to make a difference in people’s lives, long before I was in elected office, even before my husband was in the presidency,” she added.
Clinton’s 52.7 % votes over Sanders’ 47.2 % in Nevada caucuses Saturday meant Sanders secured a lot of independent or Latino votes. This way Clinton and Sanders respectively won 19 and 15 delegates.
Some entrance polls indicated Sanders having a 53%-45% advantage over Clinton among Latino voters.
But in her Sunday’s CNN interview, Clinton appeared to dispute that conclusion.
“That’s just not what our analysis shows,” she said. “We don’t believe the so-called entry polls are particularly accurate. If you look at the precincts, if you look at where we dominated, there’s a lot of evidence we did well with every group of voter.”
Clinton, whose major support comes from senior voters, also has to accomplish the task of matching Sanders’ appeal among young voters of all communities. She lost by around 50 points to Sanders among voters 17-44.
In Nevada, she once again demonstrated her strong backing among African-American voters, who accounted for 13 % of the electorate.That is likely to further bolster her prospects in South Carolina, where African-Americans are much larger in numbers.
Sanders, who notched up a 22 point win over Clinton in New Hampshire, has also been doing well with liberal voters.
Meanwhile, Sanders says he won the Latino vote in Nevada in a showing that means continuation of his surprising momentum. The senator continues to attack the Wall Street and advocate his case for income equality. Ahead of South Carolina competition with Clinton, Sanders has also been highlighting the need to fix racial issues – closer to the large African-American community.
As of now, the Democratic candidate winning nomination will be up against a Republican contender in the November presidential election who may emerge from a three-way nomination fight involving conservatives Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
