South Carolina Is Voting. 6 in 10 Want Reparations

These primary voters are also more likely to want the Obama days
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 29, 2020 3:00 PM CST
South Carolina Is Underway. Here's What Voters Are Saying
Voters fill out their ballots at a primary polling place, Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, in Charleston, S.C.   (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

South Carolina Democrats were voting in Saturday’s presidential primary with a greater sense of nostalgia for the Obama presidency than voters in earlier contests—likely reflecting the state's sizable bloc of African American voters, the AP reports. Voters in the Palmetto State were more likely than those in Iowa and New Hampshire to want to restore the political system to the way it was before President Trump took office, as opposed to seeking a candidate who will enact fundamental change. That's according to AP VoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of more than 1,400 voters in South Carolina's Democratic primary. About 4 in 10 voters in South Carolina wanted to return to the politics of the past, compared to about a third in Iowa and New Hampshire.

That includes the roughly 50% of African American voters who said they want a Democratic presidential nominee who would emulate the presidency of Barack Obama — the first nonwhite individual to hold the office. By comparison, roughly two-thirds of white voters want a presidential candidate who would bring fundamental change to Washington. Among interesting details: Health care was the leading issue among the state's Democratic voters, with about 4 in 10 calling it most important. Twenty-two percent viewed the economy as the top priority, while 14% identified climate change. About 6 in 10 voters said they support reparations for slavery, an issue that revealed a sharp racial divide. African Americans were vastly more supportive of compensation than white voters.

(More Democratic presidential primaries stories.)

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