Polls heading into the Nevada Democratic caucuses showed the two contenders neck-and-neck, so Hillary Clinton can thank the late deciders – people who made up their minds in the least few days – for the victory.
More specifically, she can thank 29-year-old Vanessa McCallum. Saturday’s decision was difficult for her down to the final moments, when she had to decide whether to sit on the Bernie Sanders or Clinton side of the caucus at Caesar’s Palace.
“It’s a heart versus logic thing,” said McCallum, a Las Vegas massage therapist who ultimately caucused for Clinton. “I love Bernie Sanders. And I love him because he’s the only candidate who is enticing everybody – the youth vote – to get up, get out and do something. I respect his policies. I respect him as a person.”
Related: How Clinton won Nevada
Repeating the pattern of Iowa and New Hampshire, Nevada exit polls showed that younger voters tilted heavily toward Sanders. The Vermont senator carried more than 8 in 10 voters under 30, while the former secretary of state carried two-thirds of those 45 and older.
In the end in, McCallum said, she questioned what Sanders would be able to achieve. Voters across America, she said, “are scared of the whole democratic socialist thing.”
“I’ve always been curious to know how is he going to guarantee that his next four years wouldn’t be a repeat of Obama and his struggles of the first four years, with everybody filibustering everything that he does,” McCallum said.
When McCallum entered the caucus site and stood in the middle of an aisle of chairs, Sanders supporters on one side and Clinton supporters on the other, you could literally see her indecision.
As she sat down with the Clinton contingent inside the caucus, she covered her eyes and said she felt like she was “cheating on Bernie” – but logic had won out.