Bernie Sanders banked on a victory in Michigan, but the voters did not deliver.
Despite redirecting campaign efforts to the state after Super Tuesday, Sanders failed to win a single county in this week’s primary there. In 2016, Michigan provided the Vermont senator a big upset when he overcame significant polling deficits to beat Hillary Clinton by 1.4 percent.
Michigan is also where Donald Trump beat Clinton by 0.23 percent, or just about 11,000 votes. Clinton's "Blue Firewall" came crashing down in 2016 as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania all voted for Trump by narrow margins. Sanders has made the case that he is the candidate who can turn out more voters in November and win in the Electoral College.
One way to look at what changed for Sanders in Michigan from 2016 to 2020 is by comparing his election results per county:
Another way is with maps: Look at the percent of the vote that Sanders received in Michigan’s 2016 primary versus how he did this year and see how much of a difference four years made.
Read the latest on the 2020 Presidential election from NBC News.
