Hillary Clinton has won the Florida primary, multiple news outlets called early Tuesday night. This was expected for Clinton, who has been polling with double-digit leads in Florida over Sanders in the weeks leading up to Super Tuesday II. While some speculated that Sanders’s major upset win in Michigan would give him momentum through the rest of the major states, Florida proved to be a big win for Clinton (and an even bigger loss for Bernie Sanders), further cementing herself as the Democratic Party’s frontrunner.
Based on everything we know about Florida, the state is a perfect combination of Clinton’s strengths: seniors, minorities and the south. Clinton has traditionally done better in southern states this campaign.”In Florida, the further north you go, the more southern it gets; and that will help Hillary,” The Green Papers’ Richard Berg Andersson said. Other than in Michigan, Clinton has also shown to be the stronger candidate among minority populations.
Florida is diverse. The third largest population of Latinos in the US (after California and Texas), Clinton has gained the endorsement of several prominent Hispanic figures, including civil rights activist Dolores Huerta who campaigned for Clinton in Nevada. Clinton also won big with Hispanic voters Texas. In 2008, Florida’s voting population was only 66 percent white, a number expected to be lower this election.Among the white population, Florida, often seen as the country’s retirement destination, has a lot of senior citizens, another demographic where Clinton has been successful.And it’s the Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s home states as well, which can only help Clinton, the establishment Democratic candidate, Andersson added.On top of all this, Florida ran a closed primary, cutting out independents voters, that typically swing toward Sanders. While a win in Florida still doesn’t secure Clinton the Democratic nomination, it is a continuation of her success thus far.Even after surpassing expectations in Michigan by more than 20 points and beating Clinton, Sanders’s campaign needed wins like Florida to keep pace.
