LAS VEGAS — One in three Nevada Democratic caucus-goers are people of color, according to early results from the NBC News entrance polls, making it the most racially diverse electorate of the 2020 presidential nominating contest so far.
A total of 66 percent of voters are white, 17 percent are Latino, and 10 percent are black, the entrance poll found. By contrast, Iowa's Democratic electorate was 91 percent white and New Hampshire's was 89 percent white.
Nevada's electorate, based on the early survey, looks more like the Democratic Party nationally. In the 2018 election, 41 percent of voters who backed Democratic candidates for Congress were people of color.
The NBC News entrance polls found plenty of good news for Bernie Sanders.
He had a significant lead in the initial preference vote, fueled by young voters, liberals and Hispanics. He was winning two-thirds of voters aged 17 to 29, 53 percent of "very liberal" voters and 51 percent of Hispanics.
Sanders had a wide lead among caucus-goers who said they'd rather have a nominee who agrees with them — he had 56 percent among those voters, ahead of Elizabeth Warren's 11 percent and Pete Buttigieg's 10 percent.
He also led among voters who said they preferred a nominee who could beat President Donald Trump, with 23 percent — ahead of Joe Biden's 19 percent and Buttigieg's 18 percent.
Sanders also led among voters who said they decided in the last few days, winning 24 percent of them. Buttigieg was next at 18 percent, and Warren had 17 percent despite her fiery and widely praised debate performance on Wednesday. Biden was next with 15 percent.
The NBC News entrance polls found that 50 percent of black voters identified as moderate or conservative, compared to 41 percent of Hispanics and 29 percent of whites.
