The first numbers from this Tuesday’s Democratic Presidential Primary Polls are in and as expected, Hillary Clinton has won the Arizona Primary with an clear margin. However, Bernie Sanders registered a strong win in Utah with about three quarters of the votes in his favor.
Arizona accounts for 85 delegates being chosen today, while the remaining two states account for only 64 delegates. Clinton has won about 59% of the votes in Arizona while Sanders won 38% with 71% of the votes counted.
Out of the 56 delegates announced in Arizona, the Secretary of State has won 40 while Sanders has taken around 16, suggesting that the final tally in the state will be around 60:25.
In Utah, Sanders has won 18 delegates with Clinton taking 5.
Clinton has around 1,208 pledged candidates while Sanders has around 878, and the Senator’s campaign hopes to win nearly all of the primaries and caucuses coming up over next 30 days.
The Arizona results are not very surprising, even though the margin of victory for Clinton is on the higher side. The state continues the trend of southern states supporting Clinton.
In addition, the Arizona primary was restricted to registered Democratic party members. Typically, Clinton has tended to do better in closed, party-members only elections compared to open polls where independent voters are also allowed in.
Idaho has an open caucus, while Utah has a semi-open caucus.
Pollsters have projected a slight edge for Bernie Sanders in Utah and Idaho, but in both states Clinton was the clear winner as late as three months ago. However, recent weeks saw the Senator overtake the Secretary of State as other candidates dropped out.
“When we began the campaign, we were considered a fringe candidacy.. who in America, the media said, believed in a political revolution,” Sanders asked today in California.
He also expressed confidence that the campaign will win in both Utah and Idaho.
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