Bernie Sanders' Huge Problem: Black Voters

Bernie Sanders' weak performance among black voters in Nevada was underscored Saturday in South Carolina, with results that are more than a little breathtaking, reports Politico: About six in 10 voters in the primary were black, and of those, a staggering 84% broke for Hillary Clinton, notes the AP. Vox adds that that's a higher percentage than one Barack Obama managed in the state in 2008, when he got 78% of the black vote. And therein may lie the rub for Sanders: While Clinton has hugged her old boss close on the campaign trail, Sanders has emphasized a broken system that needs rebuilding from the ground up.

"In many ways he’s got to almost overhaul (his message) because he’s been able to energize a lot of Democrats who feel angry about the political process, but I don’t think Sanders acknowledged strongly enough the progress that President Obama has made," a Democratic strategist tells Politico. To wit: AP cites exit polling that found three-quarters of voters want Obama's successor to generally continue his policies, while about two in 10 wanted the next president to tack to the left. The latter group broke largely for Sanders, while Clinton collected about eight in 10 of the former. (More Black voters stories.)