Democratic South Carolina Primary results thread (polls close @7pm ET)

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Number of absentee ballots returned so far in the Dem. primary: 52.000

In the GOP primary, it was 62.000 and overall turnout was 750.000

So, 650K turnout is likely today (up more than 100K from 2008).

I would be extremely surprised if turnout was that high. I was thinking more along the lines of 400K.

Yeah, it would be very surprising if SC has a higher turnout this year than it did for Obama in 2008.

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Turnout is low to moderate, per CNN. Hopefully this is bad for Clinton.

How would this be bad for Clinton? It means that the electorate is going to be even blacker and older than a high turnout election.

Well, it could be bad for Clinton in GE, but not in the primary.

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Guys my friend is at a university and went along a ballot line, there wasn't a single person over 23 and none of them were voting for Clinton!
Sanders landslide imminent!!!!

Someone else sent me this picture from a polling center.  Where are all the black people???  This is going to be a rough night for Hillary!

Look at all the Iraqi voters voting for Sanders in South Carolina!

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harry enten saying hillary will get 75% of the vote based on the exit poll data/

Don't get my hopes up like that!

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CNN to make a projection at the top of the hour.

Shocker.

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Whites (34%): 58-42 Sanders
Non-Whites (66%): 83-17 Clinton

This is the only good thing for Sanders.

He still has a sizable lead amongst whites, which will bode well for him in very white electorates going forward.

The bad news of course is that he did far worse than he said he would with black voters and he has no chance of winning in the south.

Whites (even Democratic whites) in the Deep South don't vote like whites outside of the South.  Racial polarization plays a roll, even in the Democratic primaries.  For reference, Obama lost whites in the deep south by 40 to 50 point margins, but still did well with whites outside of the deep south.

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LOL @ CNN rn

What's happening?

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Is there a silver lining for Sanders? Anywhere?

Looking at what counties haven't fully come in yet, Sanders may be able to pull Clinton down to 70%.

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So how the hell did this happen?  We all thought it would be somewhere around 60-40, the margin is thirty points wider than anyone thought.  How did she swing that many people under everyone's nose?  If she'd won by 25-30 we would all have said she overperformed.  How is it even possible to surprise by winning by 50?  How did none of the polls catch this?  How did nobody see this coming?

Honestly this is one of the most impressive political performances I've ever seen.  Hillary beat her polling gap by thirty points.  When has that ever happened in an election?

The Sanders campaign basically withdrew from South Carolina after losing Nevada.  This is what happens when you let your opponent run ads unopposed. Clinton dominated the airwaves in SC, and is doing so all across the south in the run-up to Super Tuesday. That plus the momentum from winning Nevada is what caused her to surge.

None of the polls caught this because nobody bothered polling South Carolina after Nevada, my guess is that wasn't much point to doing it after the Republican primaries since everyone knew Clinton would win.  The Clemson poll was basically the only post-NV South Carolina poll we got, and it ended up being quite accurate.