Daily Video

SHOW ALL

Feb. 17, 2016, 2:32 p.m.

Republicans focus on national security ahead of South Carolina primary

DOWNLOAD VIDEO
Essential question
Do candidates campaign on the same issues in each state? Why or why not?
Now that the 2016 New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses are history, the election process gets more complicated over the next few weeks. South Carolina Republicans vote in primaries Saturday while Nevada Democrats will head to their local caucus. Since South Carolina has eight military bases and a large veteran population, Republican candidates focused largely on security in their stops around the state. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called for an increase in the size of the nation’s active-duty military, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush traded criticism with Donald Trump, who currently leads in the polls. Although the latest polls in Nevada show a close race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the former Secretary of State appears to have a comfortable lead over the Vermont Senator in South Carolina, where the Democratic primary will happen a week after Nevada. In an appearance Tuesday in Columbia, S.C., Sanders worked to improve his standing with African-American voters, which make up a majority of the state’s Democrats. The election really heats up March 1 for what’s known as Super Tuesday, when voters will head to the polls in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.

Key terms
presidential primary — a direct primary for the selection of state delegates to a national party convention and the expression of preference for a U.S. presidential nominee caucus — a meeting of the members of a legislative body who are members of a particular political party, to select candidates or decide policy
Warm up questions ( before watching the video)
  1. Where will the next Republican primary contest take place?
  2. Where will the next Democratic primary contest take place?
  3. Why do primaries matter?
Critical thinking questions ( after watching the video)
  1. Why would military issues be of particular importance to South Carolina voters?
  2. Which issues are important in your state?
  3. Why are Democrats focusing more campaign time on South Carolina than Nevada?
  4. What can Bernie Sanders do to make himself stand out to black voters over Hillary Clinton?
  5. Who do you think will win the nominations and why?

SUPPORTED BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY:

Copyright © 2025 NewsHour Production LLC. All Rights Reserved

Illustrations by Annamaria Ward