INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Bernie Sanders Leading In Washington Amidst Record Numbers

By Alex Thomas
Published on: 09:36 PST, Mar 26, 2016

Bernie Sanders is looking forward to much-needed victories in Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii, and the question on the minds of his supporters has to be, “Is it going to be enough?” The Inquisitr recently reported that though there are 118 delegates up for grabs in Washington, no polls were available for those states. This might be an advantage for Bernie who is usually behind in the polls, though Michigan showed us that didn’t mean too much. Voting started in Washington at 1 p.m. Eastern time and reports are coming in of overflowing caucuses.

The Washington Post has a live ticker on their site indicating what the polls in Washington are saying, and Bernie has been winning by around 75 percent since reporting began. The state has been predicted to go to Senator Sanders because while Clinton usually wins cities that have large African-American votes, Washington’s biggest city is Seattle, and according to the City of Seattle‘s website, the state is 69.5 percent white and only 7.9 percent African-American. Bernie usually wins more liberal states, and Washington has to be branded as one of the more liberal states in the country.

Sanders has benefited from huge voter turnouts so far in the rainy state. The Seattle Times reported that “at Seattle’s Town Hall, the 900-capacity meeting space couldn’t accommodate all the caucus-goers trying to squeeze in, leaving some precincts to meet in the parking lot.” In Vancouver, a voter reported that there is a much larger turnout than there was in 2008 when Barack Obama ran against Hillary Clinton. According to the Washington Post, Bernie campaigned for several days in Washington while Hillary only spent one day in the state. Neither candidate appeared in the other two states that are voting today, though Sanders did send his wife to Hawaii and Alaska and ran a powerful ad in Hawaii, advocating his stance on military support. Military support, along with gun control, is generally viewed as one of Bernie’s weaker issues; he’s even been branded as a pacifist in recent months. No polls show whether Americans are more fearful of pacifism or socialism.

According to the Washington Times, Sanders needs to win almost 70 percent of the remaining delegates if he is going to take the nomination from Clinton. In today’s elections, Hawaii offers 34 delegates and Alaska offers 20. For Bernie, every delegate matters. Both candidates are looking forward to elections in Wisconsin (April 5) and Wyoming (April 9). Another important date for both candidates has to be April 19 when New York will hold its primaries.

Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii all represent states that Sanders can, and should, win. In the past few months his strategy, or at least the strategy of a level-headed Sanders supporter, would have been to win the states that he can win and not lose too badly in the states where he can’t. For example, when he lost Arizona a few days ago, he picked up 30 out of the 74 total delegates. Now he has to turn on the steam and start winning the states where he isn’t expected to win (think Michigan). The most recent Wisconsin poll from Real Clear Politics came in on Wednesday and had Hillary Clinton leading by six points. A New York poll from last Friday showed Clinton leading by 48 points. Wins for Sanders in Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii might represent a beginning of a turning tide, but he has to keep the momentum going if he is to have any chance of stifling Hillary.

Featured Image: [AP Photo/Elaine Thompson]

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