Rachel Maddow, Al Sharpton Question Bernie’s Chances Against Trump: He ‘Just Got Walloped’ In the South

It’s still early yet, but so far Super Tuesday is turning out to be pretty super for former Vice President Joe Biden, bolstered by especially strong support in the South, leading MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Al Sharpton to question Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ general election viability against President Donald Trump.

After winning the South Carolina primary by a large margin, Biden was viewed as benefiting from a momentum shift, but he has performed better in the early Super Tuesday states than most commentators predicted, winning Virginia, North Carolina, and Alabama, so far.

Prior to tonight’s results, the general narrative had been that Sanders could potentially win enough delegates to amass a virtually unsurmountable lead, especially considering the giant pile of delegates awarded by Texas and California’s contests. That narrative has now flipped, with Biden’s Southern sweep raising questions about Sanders‘ electability.

That was the consensus from the MSNBC panel, as Maddow and Sharpton discussed the night’s results.

Sharpton said that he was “not surprised” by Biden’s victory in Alabama, calling it “a huge night” for Biden, saying that “if you go into states that have diversity, Biden was always a favorite.” He credited Biden’s work with former President Barack Obama, but also Democratic voters’ desire for a presidential candidate who provided “stability.”

Maddow compared the results to the 2016 primary, noting that Sanders had been unable to improve his support in the South.

He got crushed by Hillary Clinton in the South in 2016. He ran basically equal with her everywhere else in the country, except in the South where she just shellacked him. That hasn’t changed.

I mean, he just got walloped in South Carolina by 30 points with the best turnout yet. He has been walloped apparently tonight in Virginia and in North Carolina and in Alabama with these poll-closing calls, which means it’s not going to be close in any of those states. I thought Senator Sanders was adding to his likability and to…his range by really turning it up with Latino voters. But we are not seeing any sign of that at all in the South, and among black voters in particular.

Sharpton also observed that the “surge of young voters” that the Sanders campaign was touting as one of his advantages against Trump had so far failed to materialize.

Exit polls and vote tallies show that there not only has not been a significant increase in younger voters, but while Sanders was performing strongly with younger voters, he was not winning the younger cohort by a large enough margin to counteract Biden’s vote share among older and minority voters.

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.