CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With the South Carolina primary just about one day away, candidates are crisscrossing the Carolinas ahead of that primary and the North Carolina primary that is part of next week’s Super Tuesday.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has run for President twice in the past and he is hoping South Carolina will be the stepping stone that will finally lead him to victory.
The latest Winthrop University poll shows Biden in front with 24% of the vote but Bernie Sanders has closed that gap some with Sanders now getting 19%. Tom Steyer who has spent a lot of money in South Carolina is third with 15%, followed by Pete Buttigieg with 7% and Elizabeth Warren with 6%.
Winthrop University political science professor Dr. Adolphus Belk Jr. said Biden is counting on support from African-American voters who will make up the bulk of those casting ballots in the state.
Belk said of Biden, “He’s been trying to say to people that given his service in the previous administration and given his position as a more centrist candidate that he is more capable of defeating President Trump in the general election.”
Representative James Clyburn this week gave his coveted endorsement to Biden. Clyburn is the most powerful African-American member of the House and that endorsement runs deep in the African-American community.
Belk said while Bernie Sanders has been surging, his platform, including free health care and free education might not play well in South Carolina.
“That critique is not coming from Republicans, that critique is coming from some of those more centrist Democrats. So he has his work cut out for him in a state where the democratic voting population tends to be more centrtist,” said the professor.
Primaries held in presidential years tend to draw more people and Belk said the key to winning Saturday is turnout.
“Are your people going to be able to turn out those folks that have said they’d be interested in supporting you.”
While Saturday is all about the Democrats, President Trump is doing some counter-programming. The President is planning to come to Columbia tomorrow night for a big rally just hours before the polls open on Saturday.