The AP Surveyed the Superdelegates, Leading to Announcing the Clinton Victory

For better or worse, the superdelegate system exists in the Democratic Party nomination process.

Sanders hoped for a superdelegate superswitch. But a recent survey says otherwise.

When the Associated Press announced, much to the chagrin of Sanders supporters, that Hillary Clinton had wrapped up the Democratic nomination, it was based not on hunches but on a survey of current superdelegate positions:

Hillary Clinton became the first woman to capture the presidential nomination of one of the country’s major political parties on Monday night, according to an Associated Press survey of Democratic superdelegates, securing enough of them to overcome a bruising challenge from Senator Bernie Sanders and turn to a brutal five-month campaign against Donald J. Trump.

Regardless how Bernie Sanders and his massive following may look upon the superdelegate system, it's hard not to see the handwriting on the wall. Sanders, who once vociferously decried the superdelegate system, had been counting on mass defections by superdelegates to carry the day. This survey indicates that that expectation was ill-conceived and may hasten Sanders' eventual concession to Hillary Clinton.

Those in the Clinton camp, anxious to make progress in the coming battle against Donald Trump, must be breathlessly waiting.