A woman listens to Hillary Clinton speak at a Feb. 26 "Get Out The Vote" rally for historically black colleges and universities, at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. | AP Photo Black voters reject Bernie Sanders in South Carolina The primary results bode poorly for the senator heading into Super Tuesday.

South Carolina's black Democrats really do not like Bernie Sanders.

Not only did the Vermont senator get shellacked by Hillary Clinton in the overall vote in South Carolina's primary, his share of the African-American electorate was worse here than in Nevada.


According to exit polls, Clinton won black voters 86 percent to Sanders' 14 percent, a decline from his already poor performance with this critical demographic group last week in Nevada, where he secured 22 percent of the black vote.

For Sanders, it's an ominous reflection of Clinton's momentum heading into Super Tuesday.

“If he’s 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. “He’s got to figure out a way to tweak his message and I think in many ways he’s got to almost overhaul it because he’s been able to energize a lot of Democrats who feel angry about the political process, but I don’t think Sanders acknowledged strongly enough the progress that president Obama has made.”

Since being ambushed by Black Lives Matters supporters in the summer of 2015, Sanders has expanded his policy focus to criminal justice reform and poverty in minority communities while sending African-American surrogates to key states. But, so far, for naught and the next few states on the Democratic primary calendar won't be any easier for Sanders.

A survey by the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling shows that the higher the chunk of black voters in the Democratic primary, the worse Sanders does. In Mississippi, where the black vote is 37 percent of the Democratic electorate, Clinton leads Sanders 60 percent to 26 percent. In Louisiana, where the group accounts for 32 percent of Democratic voters, Clinton wins the same share.

"I think how goes South Carolina, and I've said this...there goes America," said Rick Wade, Obama's 2008 African-American outreach director who recently endorsed Clinton. "This is a better reflection of what America looks like so you cannot win without the component of black voters in your coalition. You got to have it. And I think Hillary's demonstrated tonight that she has that coalition."

Clinton was buoyed in South Carolina by strong ties to national figures in the black community, such as Rep. Jim Clyburn. And during her victory speech on Saturday night, she name-checking Clyburn but also hit on issues important to the black community, citing Trayvon Martin and Sandra Bland before pointing to Flint, Michigan's water crisis as she began to pivot to the general election against the Republican nominee.

"By now we all know the story of Flint, Michigan, how a city's children were poisoned by toxic water because their state's governor wanted to save a little money," Clinton said.

Sanders, just minutes after the South Carolina primary was called, released a statement, conceding to Clinton in the primary. He thanked six black state representatives in South Carolina who supported him but otherwise made no mention of the black vote.

"Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina," Sanders said in the statement. "Now it’s on to Super Tuesday. In just three days, Democrats in 11 states will pick 10 times more pledged delegates on one day than were selected in the four early states so far in this campaign. Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now."