WASHINGTON—Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders face off in two more Democratic state presidential nominating contests Tuesday, in coal-producing Kentucky and Pacific coastal Oregon.
Pre-election surveys have been scant in both states, leaving analysts guessing whether Clinton can reverse recent setbacks against Sanders and move ever closer to clinching the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton, seeking to become the first female U.S. president, holds a significant lead over Sanders in the race to claim a majority of delegates to the party’s July national nominating convention.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has acknowledged he has only a narrow path to win the nomination over Clinton. But he has defeated her in 19 state nominating contests. National surveys show him faring better than she does against the presumptive Republican nominee, billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump, although both hold an advantage. Sanders has vowed to stay in the race against Clinton through the last state nominating contests in early June.
Edge over Trump
An NBC News/Survey Monkey poll Tuesday showed Clinton with a narrow national edge over Trump, 48 to 45 percent, down from a five-point margin a week ago. An average of several polls shows Clinton with about a six-point lead on Trump six months ahead of the November national election, with Sanders ahead by 13 percentage points over Trump, a one-time television reality show host who has never held elective office.
The NBC News poll shows a wide gender gap in a prospective Clinton-Trump matchup, with women favoring her by a 15-point margin and men favoring him by 11 points. Black and Hispanic voters favor her by wide margins, with whites preferring Trump. Those with college degrees favor Clinton by seven points, while those with higher incomes prefer Trump.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]
At her campaign rallies, Clinton has aimed her attacks at Trump, calling him unfit to be the country’s commander-in-chief. But she has also focused on winning Kentucky, trying to defeat Sanders in another state with a largely white population similar to those where Sanders’ upstart candidacy has fared well in the months-long campaign.
West Virginia
Clinton lost badly to Sanders in neighboring West Virginia, a coal-producing state like Kentucky. Clinton, a supporter of emerging green energy technology, has struggled to explain a comment she made in March that as president she would expect to “put a lot of coal companies and coal miners out of business.”
She has subsequently said she misspoke, telling Kentucky voters, “We can’t and must not walk away” from miners. She staged seven rallies in Kentucky over the last two days in the lead-up to the voting.
Oregon voters have had a head start in balloting, with the state’s unusual three-week vote-by-mail system. Voters have until early Tuesday evening to turn in their ballots.
Trump is expected to easily win the Oregon Republican primary. His last challengers dropped out of the race against him in early May. Kentucky Republicans voted in March, with Trump winning.
Source: VOA [xyz-ihs snippet=”Adversal-468×60″]
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