Washington: US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are moving closer to presidential nominations from their respective parties after both of them racked up early wins on Super Tuesday elections, effectively going for a historic rematch despite many voters not wanting it. People from 16 states and one territory are voting for the presidential candidates on Super Tuesday, the biggest voting day for the election where hundreds of delegates are at stake.
Biden and Trump started off the night by winning Virginia. Biden also won North Carolina, Vermont and Iowa, where Democrats previously held a presidential preference contest but didn't release their results until Tuesday. Apart from the presidential race, California voters are also choosing who will compete to fill the Senate seats long held by the late Dianne Feinstein and recently deposed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The governor's race will take shape in North Carolina, a state that both parties are fiercely contesting ahead of November.
Meanwhile, Trump also won from North Carolina as he sought to force Republican rival Nikki Haley to drop out from the race on Super Tuesday. Trump, who has dominated the Republican campaign from the start despite a litany of criminal charges, has swept all but one of the contests so far. It is unlikely that Trump will win enough delegates to formally clinch the nomination on Tuesday, but another commanding performance will put pressure on Haley to drop her long-shot presidential bid.
Pop megastar Taylor Swift encouraged her fans to vote in a post on Instagram, though she did not endorse specific candidates. Biden's campaign is hopeful Swift will eventually back his candidacy, as she did in 2020. On the other hand, Haley's challenge has highlighted some of Trump's potential general election vulnerabilities as she reached 40 per cent in some state contests.
Biden vs Trump
The former US President told Fox that his focus was on Biden, adding: "We're going to win every state tonight." His advisers have said they expect him to eliminate Haley mathematically no later than March 19, when two-thirds of the states will have voted. Trump is scheduled to begin his first criminal trial six days later in New York, where he is charged with falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to a porn star during his 2016 presidential run.
“We have to beat Biden — he is the worst president in history,” Trump said. Biden countered with a pair of radio interviews aimed at shoring up his support among Black voters, who helped anchor his 2020 win. "The way he (Trump) talks about, the way he acted, the way he has dealt with the African American community, I think, has been shameful," he said, adding that the MAGA Republicans are pushing violence.
Despite Biden's and Trump's domination of their parties, polls make it clear that the broader electorate does not want this year's general election to be identical to the 2020 race. A new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds a majority of Americans don't think either Biden or Trump has the necessary mental acuity for the job.
The final days before Tuesday demonstrated the unique nature of this year's campaign. Rather than barnstorming the states holding primaries, Biden and Trump held rival events last week along the US-Mexico border, each seeking to gain an advantage in the increasingly fraught immigration debate.
Meanwhile, in a major win for Trump, the Supreme Court on Monday restored him to 2024 presidential primary ballots, and rejected state attempts to hold the former US president accountable for the Capital riot on January 6, 2021. The outcome ends efforts in Colorado, Illinois, Maine and elsewhere to kick Trump, the front-runner for his party's nomination, off the ballot because of his attempts to undo his loss in the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.
What is Super Tuesday?
Super Tuesday takes place on March 5 and is the day in the US presidential primary cycle when the most states vote. It is traditionally the biggest day nationwide for primary elections and caucuses before the actual election day in November - as one or two states generally hold primaries or caucuses on the same day before this date.
On this Tuesday, voters in 16 different states and one territory will be choosing who they want to run for president. Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia are holding primaries, while Alaska and Utah are holding caucuses.
In the Republican contest, 865 of 2,429 delegates will be up for grabs, including from the two most populous states, California and Texas. At least 1,215 delegates are needed to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention in July. Meanwhile, Democratic primaries will allocate a total of 1,420 delegates, and 1,968 delegates are needed to win the Democratic nomination.
This year there’s not much of a chance for a surprise. Biden is the incumbent and the only major candidate for Democrats. He faces only token opposition. On the Republican side, Donald Trump has won nearly every primary so far and is expected to win big on Tuesday as well, as there are not enough independent voters for Haley.
(with inputs from agencies)
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