Rural voters like the outsiders: go big for Trump in S.C; give slight edge to Sanders in Nevada

Donald Trump scored big in rural areas in South Carolina's Republican presidential primary Saturday, while Sen. Bernie Sanders narrowly beat Hillary Clinton in rural areas in Nevada's caucus the same day, Bill Bishop and Tim Marema report for the Daily Yonder. Trump won all 50 of South Carolina's delegates with 33 percent of the vote, while Clinton took Nevada 53-47.

Trump was most popular among rural voters, netting 41 percent of their votes, compared to 32 percent in metropolitan areas (counties that have cities of 50,000 residents and up, or close economic ties to such a county) and 35 percent of micropolitan votes (areas with a city of at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000). The Yonder counted rural areas as counties with no city of 10,000 or more. Behind Trump's rural vote of 41 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz got 24.2 percent, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio 18.4 percent, of rural votes. Rubio edged out Cruz for third, both getting about 22 percent of the total vote. (Yonder graphic)

In Nevada Sanders edged Clinton in rural areas, 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent, but Clinton won the state overall 52.6 percent to 47.3 percent. "Caucus goers outside metropolitan areas accounted for less than 10 percent of the overall turnout," Bishop and Marema note. "Nevada is the second state where a majority of voters or cacus-goers outside metropolitan areas favored Sanders over Clinton. Sanders beat Clinton by 29 points among New Hampshire’s nonmetropolitan voters. Clinton’s slight rural advantage among Iowa caucus-goers last month gave her just enough votes to squeak by Sanders in the caucus." Clinton earned 19 delegates in Nevada to 15 for Sanders. (Read more)