Hillary Clinton’s allies and supporters have entered panic mode, as the 23-point lead she held over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in Nevada last December has dwindled to a razor-thin, one-point lead in a state once considered “tailor-made” for her.
Anything shy of an emphatic victory for Clinton could prove disastrous for her presidential campaign.
As one friend of the Clinton’s told The Hill, “the shit will hit the fan” if she loses in Nevada.
The same CNN/ORC poll showing a virtual dead heat in Nevada has also indicated that Clinton enjoys an 18-point lead over Sanders for the February 27 South Carolina primary. That might change, however, depending on how Nevada pans out.
While Sanders has enjoyed the support of the white population in Iowa and New Hampshire, Clinton has long turned to Latino voters to boost her. However, Nevada’s Latino Democratic voter base is evenly divided between the two Democratic presidential candidates based on age; older Latinos back the former secretary of state; while the younger, millennial-oriented demographic supports Sanders.
Despite the fact that Bill Clinton campaigned for Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) in Nevada in 2010, the Senate minority leader has yet to endorse a candidate.
Vanity Fair points out that statistics guru Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight has laid out a numerical path to a Sanders victory, projecting how much he needs in order to secure the Democratic nomination. If Clinton does not secure a 15-point win over Sanders in Nevada, Clinton may need to re-examine her strategy heading into South Carolina.
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz.
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