TODAY, March 22nd, Hillary Clinton contests the next set of Democratic primary elections—in Arizona, Idaho and Utah—leading her rival Bernie Sanders by over 700 delegates. But her appeal among the Democratic electorate is by no means evenly spread. White men have been the most hesitant group to back Mrs Clinton in the 2016 primaries. Although black men have voted for her in droves, the party’s front-runner has rarely carried a majority of white men in states where exit polling has been conducted (the exceptions being Alabama and probably Arkansas and Tennessee). In Ohio, for example, a crucial swing state come November, only 42% of white men plumped for Mrs Clinton, down from 58% in the 2008 primary. Women, especially black women, have been more resolute in their support, despite calls from feminists earlier this year to back Mr Sanders as the better candidate on women’s issues.

Hillary versus Hillary: The 2008-2016 horse race This is not to say that Mrs Clinton's wilting appeal to men will hurt her in the general election. Barack Obama lost to John McCain among white men 40-60% and still won the presidency. And a lot of those white male Democrats who prefer Mr Sanders in the primaries would vote for Mrs Clinton in November (should she win the nomination). A recent poll for Washington Post/ABC News comparing Donald Trump with Hillary Clinton found that the Republican held a lead of 48-43% among men nationally, but this five percentage-point advantage was down from 15 points in September. In the latest poll, Mrs Clinton led Mr Trump by 21 points among women; she also bested him when respondents were asked whom they trusted most to handle a variety of issues including “the economy” and “immigration”, and on personal attributes such as “experience” and “personality”. Read more:

The importance of female primary voters to Hillary Clinton

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