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Clinton Lost By A Decent Margin In Wisconsin

by Erin Corbett

On April 5, Wisconsin voters went to the polls to cast their ballots in the 2016 presidential primaries. The state is especially important for the Democratic candidates, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders officially won it — and not by a small margin. With another big win for Sanders, how many delegates did Hillary Clinton win in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin's Democratic primary has a total of 86 delegates that are allocated on a proportional basis between the two candidates, so the most important factor in this race is the margin between the candidates' voter rates. Because the margin between the two candidates was about 13 points, Clinton won 31 delegates in Wisconsin's primary.

The Democratic candidates need 2,383 total delegates to solidify the nomination, and Sanders is definitely taking this race all the way to the July Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Clinton currently leads Sanders in her total delegate count of 1,743 delegates, which includes 1,274 pledged delegates and 469 superdelegates. Sanders has picked up some momentum in his campaign, with his latest wins in Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and now Wisconsin. Even so, he holds a total of 1,056 delegates (1,025 pledged delegates and just 31 superdelegates).

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Sanders supporters are hopeful the candidate can rack up some more superdelegates, especially considering all the states he has been winning as of late. In Washington state, Sanders won the primary contest with 73 percent of the vote — a huge margin. Even so, Clinton could still take 10 of the 17 unpledged delegates if superdelegates don't go with the people and side with the establishment politician.

While Clinton was vocal during a campaign stop in Wisconsin on Saturday about her belonging to the party for longer than Sanders — specifically "all [her] adult life" — Wisconsin voters have spoken and they are more interested in political reform than they are the establishment. With a big win in Wisconsin on Tuesday, the Democratic race between Clinton and Sanders is hardly over, and Sanders has a shot still to secure some more wins and delegates in the remaining 23 contests leading into the convention.

If Sanders does secure a majority of the 1,966 available pledged delegates in the remaining states before the Convention — even if he doesn't reach the total 2,382 needed for the nomination — it's possible that some of those unbound superdelegates may jump the Clinton ship and "feel the Bern" instead.

Only time will tell, as we head into the next primaries in Wyoming on April 9 and New York on April 19. New York will be another major primary, considering Clinton was the state's senator from 2001 to 2009, but Sanders was born and raised in Brooklyn. The home battle will resonate with a lot of voters.