Trump and Biden lead in Super Tuesday: Preliminary results released

Trump garnered Republican votes in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, sidelining his only remaining rival, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, whose campaign no longer has a chance of nomination. According to forecasts by Edison Research, the only victory for the former US ambassador to the UN was in Vermont.

After a strong performance in 15 states, where over a third of Republican delegates were elected on Super Tuesday, Trump virtually secured his third consecutive nomination for the presidency, despite numerous criminal accusations.

Trump and Biden, the agency writes, focused their attention on each other as the results became apparent. In his victory speech, delivered at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump focused on Biden's immigration policy and called him the "worst president" in history.

"Our cities are being overrun with migrant crime," he said, though crime data does not support that assertion.

In response, Biden again called Trump a threat to American democracy.

"Tonight's results leave the American people with a clear choice: Are we going to keep moving forward or will we allow Donald Trump to drag us backwards into the chaos, division, and darkness that defined his term in office?" Biden said.

It was expected that Biden would win the Democratic Party primaries. However, an organized protest vote in Minnesota by activists who opposed strong support from the Israeli president unexpectedly yielded high results.

According to Edison Research's exit polls, "uncommitted" votes in Minnesota accounted for almost 20%, with more than half of the projected votes counted, even higher than the 13% recorded in a similar action in Michigan last week. Nevertheless, Biden won in Minnesota and 14 other states, including mail-in voting in Iowa, which concluded on Tuesday, March 5.

The incumbent president suffered one defeat - in the American territory of American Samoa, where entrepreneur Jason Palmer received 51 votes against Biden's 40, according to the Democratic Party of American Samoa.

The first presidential rematch in over half a century

Another election campaign between 77-year-old Trump and 81-year-old Biden marks the first repeat presidential showdown in the USA since 1956. Few Americans are satisfied with this situation. Public opinion polls show that both Biden and Trump have low approval ratings among voters.

Exit polls conducted by Edison Research in California, North Carolina, and Virginia showed that the main issues for Republican voters were immigration and the economy. The majority of Republican voters in these states stated their support for the deportation of illegal immigrants. Trump, who often denigrates migrants, promised to conduct the largest deportation in US history if elected.

Reuters notes that the results of Super Tuesday will only increase pressure on Nikki Haley to withdraw from the race. On Tuesday, she did not appear in public, and her campaign did not schedule future events.

According to a spokesperson for the politician, the voting showed that "there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump."

Other candidates

In addition, voters on Super Tuesday cast their ballots for candidates who did not make it onto the list.

In California, Democratic representative Adam Schiff, the lead prosecutor in Trump's first impeachment trial, advanced to the general election to succeed the late Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. His opponent will be former baseball player Steve Garvey, a Republican who surpassed Democratic representative Katie Porter.

California's electoral system, in which the top two candidates advance regardless of party affiliation, prompted Schiff's campaign to employ an unusual strategy: he launched ads aimed at supporting Garvey among Republican voters, believing that Garvey is likely to be a weaker opponent in November than Porter in a state leaning towards Democrats.

In North Carolina, the Republican nomination for governor was won by Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, whom Trump supported.

Robinson, who will become the state's first African American leader, has faced criticism for his sharp comments about the LGBT community, women, and Muslims. He will face Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein in one of the country's most fiercely contested gubernatorial races.

Pop star Taylor Swift urged her fans to vote in an Instagram post, although she did not endorse specific candidates. The Biden campaign hopes Swift will finally endorse his candidacy, as she did in 2020.

Trump's vulnerabilities and Biden's specifics

The challenge from Nikki Haley highlighted some potential vulnerabilities for Trump in the general elections. In some states, the former UN ambassador garnered 40%, performing particularly well among independent, well-educated, and suburban voters, who could play a decisive role in the November showdown.

About a third of voters in North Carolina stated that Trump would not be able to perform his duties as president if convicted of a crime, while in Virginia, 53% said he could still hold the office, even if found guilty.

Trump's first criminal trial is set to begin on March 25 in New York, where he is accused of falsifying business documents to conceal payments to a pornographic actress during his 2016 presidential campaign.

In addition to the case in New York, Trump faces separate allegations of election interference at Georgia's federal and state levels. However, whether the case will go to court before the November 5th elections remains unclear. He is also facing federal charges for retaining classified documents after leaving office.

Trump has not admitted guilt in any of the four criminal cases.

Meanwhile, Biden faces his weaknesses, including widespread concerns about his age. He is already the oldest president in history.

Presidential elections in the USA

The presidential elections in the United States are scheduled for November 5, 2024. According to forecasts, the leading contenders for the Democratic candidacy are the incumbent president, Joe Biden, and for the Republicans - Donald Trump. Also, former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley participates in the Republican primaries.

On March 2, Trump won the Republican caucuses in Missouri and Idaho and received all the delegates' votes from Michigan. The politician also won the caucuses in North Dakota.

On March 4, for the first time in the campaign, the politician lost a primary to Haley in the District of Columbia.

According to a survey by The New York Times and the Siena College, as of early March, Donald Trump leads Joe Biden by five points. 48% of respondents are ready to support Trump in the elections, while Biden has the support of 43%.