Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by a margin of 19 percentage points in Colorado caucus straw polls this week, but the delegate count is starting to tell a different story.

Clinton now looks likely to tie the Vermont senator 38-38 in the state’s delegate count, according to projections from The Denver Post, Bloomberg Politics and The Associated Press. That includes a potential 38-28 split in Sanders’ favor in projections based on Tuesday’s preference poll results, plus 10 superdelegates (out of 12) who have committed to Clinton, the former secretary of state.

The potential for a split decision or worse for Sanders stands in stark contrast to celebrations by his supporters across Colorado on Tuesday night.

Sanders rallied Colorado Democrats in a big way, drawing on young voters, passionate liberals and, the campaign says, big support from Latinos.

Even as Clinton solidified her status as the Democratic front-runner on Super Tuesday with big victories across the South, Sanders swept 51 of Colorado’s 64 counties. He relegated Clinton to wins mostly on the Eastern Plains and a handful of other low-population counties.

Sanders carried the Western Slope, the mountains and every county in the Denver area, although the Douglas County margin was only five votes.

Turnout broke state Democratic caucus records and resulted in long lines at many caucus sites that delayed start times, pushed some meetings outdoors and kept caucusgoers from voting at some places, notably in Boulder County.

The state party said the 121,600 registered Democrats who voted Tuesday exceeded the turnout of 120,000 in 2008, when Barack Obama beat Clinton 2-to-1.

“In some respects, Colorado is a bit of an outlier … in that Democratic participation (in other states) has been down the last couple years, while Republican participation has been on steroids,” said Eric Sondermann, a Denver political analyst.

The Colorado results are “a testimony that Sanders engaged the race and captured the attention of the most activist, liberal base of the Democratic party” in a state that tends to favor insurgent caucus candidates. The turnout amounted to 11 percent of all registered Democrats for a caucus process that “rewards depths of support rather than breadth of support,” as Sondermann sees it.

But that was Tuesday. The delegates sent to the Democratic National Convention may paint a different picture of Colorado Democrats’ preferences.

Although the superdelegates can change their allegiances — and two so far have not committed to either candidate — a key indicator is Clinton’s apparent ascendancy.

If her momentum continues, she could maintain her tie in Colorado’s 78 delegates or even exceed Sanders’ total by two, once the state party leaders who are standing on the sidelines make their superdelegate choices later in the primary season.

In 2008, after Obama seized the momentum from Clinton and went on to win the Democratic nomination, many superdelegates switched their allegiances to the new front-runner.

Unless Sanders is able in upcoming primaries to narrow the gap and eventually surpass Clinton in earned delegates nationally, a switch of most Colorado superdelegates would be unlikely.

Sanders won the presidential preference poll conducted across 3,010 precincts Tuesday night 59 percent to 40 percent.

Before the caucus, The Post explored the potential that a decisive outcome for one candidate could be diminished by the delegate math. Given the size of Sanders’ straw poll margin, the greatest potential for that now is in the superdelegate votes. Without them, the delegate projection would be only slightly narrower than the vote proportions.

Of Colorado’s 78 delegates, 66 are based indirectly on Tuesday’s caucus preference polls and will be assigned at meetings through the April 15 state party convention, based in part on complicated allocations by congressional district that take into account Tuesday’s straw polls.

Some caveats: No delegates will be settled completely until the state convention. The delegate proportion also may change because delegates to county conventions are not bound and may change sides.

And the superdelegates undoubtedly will face pressure from Sanders supporters in coming weeks or months to represent the will of Colorado’s vote.

So far, none who have committed to Clinton are budging publicly.

Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday said that despite Sanders’ win among caucus attendees, he was firm in his commitment to Clinton. He is among elected officials designated as superdelegates.

“I endorsed Hillary Clinton because I think of all the candidates in both parties, she is by a large margin the most qualified to come in and be president on Day 1,” he told The Post through a spokeswoman. “I appreciate the intense attraction that Sen. Sanders has for many, but my support for Secretary Clinton has never wavered.”

Regardless of the potential delegate counts, supporters of each candidate reflected Wednesday on the meaning of the straw poll results.

The Sanders campaign pointed to his vote leads in 10 of the 15 counties where Latinos make up the largest shares of Democrats. The largest in that group carried by Clinton was Pueblo County, which she won by just under 5 percentage points.

“You can only win the state of Colorado by more than 18 points if you get the support of the state’s Latino community in a big way,” Arturo Carmona, the campaign’s deputy political director, said in a news release.

Without exit polling, Sanders’ level of Latino support was tough to gauge, prompting some skepticism from Clinton supporters because Sanders has struggled to connect with minority communities in some places.

“If you don’t have any to start with and then you get a few — yeah, I guess you can say you did a little better you did before,” said former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, a staunch Clinton supporter.

But Sanders’ high level of overall support was undeniable. Clinton’s state campaign declined interview requests Wednesday.

“Obviously, we wish we had done better,” Webb said. “When I spoke (to precincts Tuesday night), I applauded Sanders for getting so many new people out for the election. I also believe that Hillary is the strongest candidate that we can put forth for the party. “

Colorado caucus results: Complete results of Colorado’s 2016 Democratic caucus.