Just a few weeks ago, Joe Biden was calling South Carolina his firewall, the first primary or caucus state where his popularity among black voters could propel his flagging campaign to a victory. Now he’s hanging on by a thread. The latest polls of Democrats in the Palmetto State show Biden’s once-commanding 28-point lead in November has shrunken to just five percentage pionts over a now surging Bernie Sanders in the same CBS News/YouGov poll released Saturday. That result was echoed Monday in an NBC News/Marist poll that also found the two locked in a tight battle — Sanders at 23 percent, closely trailing Biden at 27 percent. Factoring in the margins of error in each poll, the two are virtually tied, something that seemed unthinkable just weeks ago given the socialist Vermont senator’s lack of support among black voters relative to Biden. But Sanders is suddenly surging, and setting his sights on a first place finish in South Carolina after a thumping victory in Nevada on Saturday that followed a neck-and neck Iowa caucus finish with former South Bend, Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg that saw him come in a close second and a resounding win in the New Hampshire primary. Energized by his victory at the Nevada caucus Saturday, Sanders’ camp is now bullish about toppling Biden in what was once his stronghold state — adding two more rallies in South Carolina before this Saturday’s primary. Still, after disastrous showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, Biden’s campaign is pinning its hopes on South Carolina’s black Democratic voters to hand him victory and much-needed momentum before Super Tuesday on March 3. A first-place finish by Sanders could be fatal to Biden’s White House bid. “We’re fighting to win in South Carolina,” top Sanders strategic Jeff Weaver told the New York Times Monday, noting his rise in the polls. The strength of the far-left party outsider’s run has sent other campaigns scrambling — staffers for Biden, 77, and ex-Big Apple mayor Mike Bloomberg, 78, telling reporters Monday that his nomination would lead to “carnage” for Democrats at the election. |
