To get the nomination for the Democratic party, a candidate needs to obtain at least 2,382 delegates. Currently, a total of 4,753 delegates is available. Seven hundred and twelve of those are “super delegates,” individuals who can choose which candidate to support without being beholden to voters. They are typically elected officials, including senators, Congressmen and mayors.
The current delegate count shows Clinton with 1,243 pledged delegates and Sanders with 980. Of those, 469 super delegates have pledged support for Clinton, while only 31 have chosen to support Sanders. That gives Clinton a lead of 701 delegates.
If there were no super delegates, and the 712 were just a part of the pledge voter count, this is what it would look like:
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Clinton holds 1,337 pledges. Sanders holds 1,088. While the race is much closer from this perspective, Clinton still holds a respectable lead over Sanders. This is because she’s managed to win big in states with high delegate counts, like Texas and Florida. Sanders may win by 80 percent in Western states, but that doesn’t quite make up for losses in the high delegate states. While some have griped that the presence of super delegates is undemocratic, the numbers still show Sanders trailing behind Clinton.
The New York primary on April 19 will be the decision maker for the Sanders campaign. If he cannot win in New York, where polling currently has him taking a major loss, his campaign may be finished. New York has 291 total delegates up for grabs, with 44 of them being super delegates. Sanders’ campaign seems to be gaining momentum, but he’s won big in states with low delegate counts. It will be much harder for his message to resonate with New York, where many believe Clinton has a home state advantage.