The Number Of Delegates NJ Has

The final Super Tuesday is approaching in just a few days, and the country is getting hyped for the last primaries in this historic and atypical election season. The last primaries will finally settle the question of the Democratic nomination, which has held out longer than anyone expected when campaigning began nearly a year ago. Although the outcome is nearly predetermined, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will battle it out in states across the country to finish up the primary cycle and reach a definitive nomination. Among the most significant of those states for Clinton and Sanders is New Jersey, which makes up a big chunk of the overall delegate count. How many delegates does New Jersey have? The stakes are a a lot higher for the Democrats than the Republicans.

New Jersey's small geographic size belies its significant delegate count. In addition to its highly dense population, the state has historically voted Democrat, and the DNC rewards that party loyalty by granting more delegates. The Democrats apportion 142 delegates to New Jersey, 16 of whom are superdelegates. Hillary Clinton is currently polling well above Bernie Sanders in the Garden State by a margin of about three to two, so if that estimate holds through the primary, Clinton should get about 75 pledged delegates and Sanders should score about 50. Of the 16 superdelegates, 12 have already pledged their support to Clinton, while two have stated their support for Sanders. The remaining two delegates won't have too much of an impact, but their votes at the convention will be interesting to analyze.

The Republican party uses a less delegate-heavy system, so New Jersey only gets 51 delegates at the national convention. In comparison to the Democratic primary, in which New Jersey has the seventh highest delegate count, the Garden State carries much less weight in the Republican system, so even if the race was still contested, it wouldn't be a hugely important primary anyway. Since New Jersey uses the winner take all method, all 51 of those delegates should go to Donald Trump, simply increasing his already sufficient delegate count. Unfortunately, because the New Jersey primary is both closed and down to only one candidate, the results probably won't paint a very clear picture of how the state will swing in the general election. It's not a total waste of time for the Donald though — Trump can use a decisive win to continue bolstering his campaign as he heads towards a Clinton face off in November.

Although both parties' races are ostensibly locked up, the last group of Americans to get their say at the polls should have an important role in shaping the November election. Just as the first in the country primaries have a large hand in determining the rest of primary season, the last primaries set the tone and mold the conversation leading up to the general. New Jersey's voters and the delegates they send to the national convention will end a strong message to the country about the coming election.