Yesterday’s Democratic primary in Michigan was essentially meaningless; as punishment for moving the state’s primary to January 15th, the Democratic National Committee stripped the state of all it’s delegates and Brack Obama and John Edwards didn’t even apply to be on the ballot, and Hillary ended up getting 55% of the vote, with 40% of the Democrats who showed up at the polls voting “uncommitted.”
But that’s not what should be troubling for the Clinton camp; what they should worry about is the fact that she lost the African-American vote:
[R]oughly 70 percent of Michigan’s African-American voters — a group that makes up a quarter of Michigan’s Democratic electorate — did not cast their votes for Clinton, choosing the “uncommitted” option instead. Yet these voters weren’t uncommitted at all: in fact, according to CNN exit polls, they overwhelmingly favored Barack Obama, whose name did not appear on the ballot.
Had Obama’s name been on the Michigan ballot, CNN exit polls show that he would have won an overwhelming 73 percent of the African-American vote, in contrast to 22 percent who say they would have voted for Clinton under those circumstances. If South Carolina’s large African-American community votes as Michigan’s, Hillary may not be feeling much ‘southern hospitality’ in that state.
This could be an issue throughout the South.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
[...] When Michigan held it’s primary on January 15th, Hillary Clinton was the only candidate on the ballot and garnered 55% of the vote: [...]