Stunning upset: What just happened in Michigan?
To say that Bernie Sanders upset Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s Democratic primary in Michigan doesn’t really begin to cover what happened there.
Consider this:
- Not a single poll taken over the last month had Clinton less than 5 percentage points ahead of Sanders in Michigan
- According to FiveThirtyEight.com, both the FiveThirtyEight polls-plus and polls-only forecast gave Clinton a nearly sure bet – greater than 99 percent chance of winning
- One poll had Clinton with a 27-point lead in the run-up to the voting in Michigan
- The last time anything like that happened was when Gary Hart upset Walter Mondale in New Hampshire
So how did Sanders end up with a 2 point victory in the state?
According to CBS News exit polling results from Michigan, he did it with the support of white men, those who are worried about the economy and those who distrust the federal government.
Others have suggested that Clinton’s debate attack on Sanders for allegedly not voting for the auto bailout also hurt her in the state. Clinton said Sanders did not vote for the bailout, however, Sanders did vote for a stand-alone bill funding the bailout. He did not vote for a bailout of Wall Street firms that included money that would go to the auto bailout.
In Mississippi on Tuesday, Clinton trounced Sanders, mainly on the support of African American voters. She won 89 percent of the black vote there.
In Michigan, 63 percent of white men voted for Sanders, and 59 percent of white Democrats supported him.
In addition, Clinton did less well with African American voters in the Michigan primary. She had fewer than 66 percent support from black voters there. Sanders had 30 percent.
Sanders support was strong with younger voters. Eighty-one percent of voters ages 18-29 supported Sanders. Fifty-five percent of those 30-44 also backed the Vermont senator.
Sanders also won 60 percent of voters who said international trade led to the loss of U.S. jobs, and 59 percent of voters who said they were most worried about the direction of the economy.
