Clinton leads as Horry County Democrats head to primary polls

Democrats will have their say during Saturday’s South Carolina primary as to which candidate should become the party’s presidential nominee, but numerous polls already indicate that Hillary Clinton will win by an overwhelming majority.

“The common knowledge is that Hillary has the Democratic vote sewed up in South Carolina,” said Chip Brown, a teaching associate of politics and geography at Coastal Carolina University.

Clinton has maintained a strong lead in South Carolina polls conducted since last summer, with a spread that has put her 20 to 30 points ahead of her opponent, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

A Clemson University Palmetto Poll completed Thursday showed Clinton ahead with widespread support — 64 percent to Sanders 14 percent. The poll focused on voters who had participated in at least two of the last three statewide primaries.

“She has such an entrenched organization in South Carolina and long-standing ties to the people in South Carolina, that it took some steam out of the Sanders campaign,” Brown said.

Neither Democratic candidate spent as much time in the state or Horry County as their Republican counterparts, who engaged in a hard-fought campaign leading up to the GOP primary on Feb. 20 that New York businessman Donald Trump won handily.

The only Democrats to visit Horry County were Hillary Clinton, who held a rally Thursday in Myrtle Beach, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley who campaigned here last year but has since dropped out of the race.

“The reality is that this is a majority Republican county, and campaigns have to allocate resources carefully,” said Horry County Democratic Party Chairwoman Joan Furlong.

Sanders skipped Horry County and focused his South Carolina campaign in larger cities where Democratic votes are plentiful, such as Columbia and Charleston.

Sanders appeared to have abandoned the “First-in-the-South” primary this week by choosing to campaign instead in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.

Sanders has captured the imagination of younger voters on college campuses, and is popular with the liberal base of the party.

Clinton’s overall polling average in South Carolina is 57 percent, compared to 33 percent for Sanders, according to Real Clear Politics.

“It’s a tremendous uphill fight for Sanders in a place like South Carolina,” Brown said. “I just don’t think he has the familiarity and name recognition, which is extremely important in any campaign.”

“He’s got the Democrat establishment he has to overcome, and they have been dedicated to Clinton for a long time,” Brown said. “I’m not surprised he has decided to allocate resources elsewhere and not spend the time in South Carolina.”

Furlong said the Horry County Democrat Party has worked hard to ensure a strong turnout, using phone banks and mailers to remind voters to cast ballots on Saturday.

“I think there is excitement and very strong interest in either Hillary or Bernie,” Furlong said. “We don’t have the long slate that Republicans had last Saturday, but we have two very strong and good candidates.”

Sandy Martin, director of Horry County Registration and Elections, said 20.3 percent of Democrats turned out for the 2008 primary election that saw Clinton defeated by then-Senator Barack Obama. No primary was held in 2012 when President Obama ran for reelection unopposed.

Martin said it was too early to tell what Saturday’s turnout might total.

However, Brown predicted that voter turnout in Horry County and statewide “won’t set any records,” because primary elections tend to draw fewer voters than the November general election.

Martin did suggest that voters be patient at some Horry County polls that were combined with a second polling station because of scheduling conflicts, resulting in long lines last weekend in the Republican primary.

The “Jetport 1” precinct in Myrtle Beach became so crowded early in the day, that the long line spilled out of the doorway and into the parking lot.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Clinton leads as Horry County Democrats head to primary polls."