Bernie Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in Nevada over the weekend by about 5 points and it was definitely disappointing for Bernie and is supporters. Before we anyone starts freaking out about how the Sanders campaign is doomed, let’s decompose this a bit.

We have a LONG way to go. The primary season has just started and after Nevada, Sanders has a tie, a win, and a close loss under his belt. Not bad considering how Sanders was constantly referred to as a “fringe candidate” that no one believed in until he he came within .2 percent in Iowa. Just five weeks ago, Sanders was down 25 percent in Nevada. Nevada was supposed to be Clinton’s “firewall”, where the diversity of the state would doom Sanders. However, Sanders won the latino vote by about 10 points. When it comes down to it, Clinton won Nevada because the turnout was embarrassingly low; just 80,000 came out as opposed to a turn out of 120,000 in 2008. She also won due to overwhelming support from the 7 percent of African-Americans that came out to vote. This is a problem for the Sanders campaign, but I believe that he is slowly but surely making gains among the African-American community. The African-American vote is not monolithic, so just because he did poorly in Nevada doesn’t mean he will do poorly among African-Americans in other states.

Nevada’s result shows that Sanders is closing the gap nationally. Nate Silver has a detailed figure detailing how states will vote if Sanders ties Clinton nationally or if he remains at 12 points behind. Losing by just 5 points in Nevada shows that Sanders is trending in the right direction. Sanders has been trending up, while Clinton has been trending down. I don’t see any signs of Sanders losing momentum. Recent polls have shown him up in key Super Tuesday states like Massachusetts, Minnesota, Vermont, Colorado, and gaining fast in Oklahoma. We will see what happens in South Carolina, but if Bernie loses by less 15 points that is a victory.

As Sanders continues to make up ground nationally, Hillary Clinton continues to have terrible favorability numbers. Her net favorability is -13, while Sanders is +12. Clinton continues to be in the news for the wrong reasons when it comes to the FBI investigation into her emails and the subpoena issued out regarding the Clinton foundation. When it comes down to it, Nevada was characterized as a state that Clinton had to win after getting whacked in New Hampshire and a lost would have be catastrophic. Well, Sanders came within 5 points of causing such a disaster even with terrible turn out. So, Clinton survived another day. And I would argue that she benefited from the abysmal turn out. The Clinton campaign has two awesome slogans, “No we can’t!” and “We win when less people vote!”I can’t help but think that the people powered campaign will trounce the corporate powered machine in the end. Don’t let the outcome of one state convince you otherwise.