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Hillary Clinton looks on as BET Chairman and CEO Debra Lee speaks during the BET Networks Leading Women Defined on March 1, 2016, in Bal Harbour, Florida. Exit polls: Clinton trouncing Sanders among African-Americans across the South

Hillary Clinton's Southern firewall held strong on Super Tuesday, thanks in part to huge African-American support.

The former secretary of state has huge leads over Sen. Bernie Sanders among African American voters in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia, according to Super Tuesday exit polls.

In Tennessee, Clinton is winning with 82 percent of African American voters, while Sen. Bernie Sanders has picked up just 12 percent, according to a CNN News exit poll. African Americans from Virginia similarly came out in force giving her 84 percent of their vote. In Georgia, Clinton won a similarly large margin of African American voters with 83 percent, according to CNN. The network's exit polls also showed that 87 percent and 88 percent of African Americans had voted for Clinton in Alabama and Arkansas, respectively. And finally, in Texas, Clinton won 80 percent of African Americans, according to CNN's exit polls.

“So many black women saying over and over again this is her time,” said famed civil rights leader and Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night. “They believe her and trust her to stand up and fight for them and fight for their children.”

Lewis is one of several prominent African American leaders who are backing Clinton. Earlier, Clinton rode a wave of African American support to a crushing victory in South Carolina. She won 86 percent of black voters there, while Sanders won just 14 percent. Overall, Clinton won that state by nearly 48 percentage points.



“If [Sanders] is going to win this nomination he’s got to figure how he’s going to appeal to a much broader audience because right now he is struggling and he’s heading into a set of primaries in states where they don’t look anything like New Hampshire,” said Doug Thornell, a Democratic strategist and former communications director for the Congressional Black Caucus, shortly after the South Carolina primary.

Sanders has only won in Oklahoma and his home state of Vermont, while Massachusetts remains too close to call. Voters in these states were predominately white. In Vermont and Oklahoma, the voting base in these states was 96 percent and 74 percent white, respectively, according to CNN's exit polls .