Hillary Clinton scored a decisive, nearly 50-point win in South Carolina on Saturday, cooling Bernie Sanders’ presidential hopes as the two contenders race toward a Super Tuesday showdown.
In her second straight primary victory, Clinton trounced Sanders, 73.5 percent to 26 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.
Clinton coasted to victory thanks to a record-breaking turnout among the state’s black voters, who made up 61 percent of the Democratic electorate, exit polls showed. She won over those voters, 84 percent to 16 percent.
And she won the support of 74 percent of women, compared with 26 percent who liked Sanders, exit polls showed.
“Tomorrow this campaign goes national,” she said. “We’re not taking anything and we’re not taking anyone for granted.”
She even included a jab at Donald Trump, saying, “We don’t need to make America great again.
“America has never stopped being great. But we do need to be making America whole again,” she added. “Instead of building walls, we should be tearing down barriers.”
With her win, she scooped up at least 37 of the state’s 53 delegates, padding her lead of 542 to 83 delegates over Sanders ahead of Tuesday’s primaries, when 865 delegates are up for grabs.
Sanders didn’t even bother to show up. He spent the day in Texas urging supporters to vote in the state’s primary Tuesday.
“Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning,” Sanders said in a statement. “Now it’s on to Super Tuesday.”
Now Clinton looks to sustain momentum through Super Tuesday, when voters in 11 states cast their ballots.
Clinton leads at least 10 of those states, including the three largest.
Clinton’s South Carolina win is a dramatic turnaround from eight years ago when she lost to Barack Obama, earning only 27 percent to his 55 percent.