Biden, Trump sweep Super Tuesday races, edging closer to rematch
WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump swept to victory in their respective party's presidential primaries on "Super Tuesday", when over a dozen states held primary elections.
Biden, challenged by American author Marianne Williamson and Congressman Dean Phillips, has won Democratic primaries in Alabama, Massachusetts, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, Utah and California, and the party's caucus in Iowa, according to US media projections.
Trump, meanwhile, has been projected to pick up victories in the Republican primary contests in Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Texas, Maine, Minnesota, Arkansas and California, beating former South Carolina Governor and former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
Haley, Trump's only challenger in the Republican race, is expected to claim victory in Vermont in a surprise upset against Trump. This is only her second win of a GOP nomination contest following that in Washington, DC.
Projected results continue to roll in on the night of "Super Tuesday", the biggest day for the primary race of the 2024 US presidential election, when approximately one-third of all delegates to the Republican or Democratic conventions are to be distributed.
Fifteen states, including populous California and Texas, and the US territory of American Samoa, held primary elections on Tuesday. Iowa Democrats released the results of their presidential caucus earlier this day.
Despite securing a series of Super Tuesday wins, neither Biden nor Trump will be able to collect enough delegates to claim the title of "presumptive nominee". But a Biden-Trump rematch is increasingly likely.
In a statement released Tuesday, Biden cautioned that the advancements achieved by his administration could be jeopardized if Trump regains the presidency, saying that Trump's motivations are fueled by resentment and personal gain.
Trump, in a recent speech, said that a vote for Trump is the only escape from Biden and "his gang's fast track to hell".
"We have a very divided country," said the former president on Tuesday, vowing that "we're going to have unity" very quickly.
Many Americans have expressed discontent with both candidates.
A recent survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that a significant share of US adults doubt the mental capabilities of Biden, 81, and Trump, 77.
More than six in 10 say they are not very or not at all confident in Biden's mental capability to serve effectively as president, while 57 percent say that Trump lacks the memory and acuity for the job, the poll showed.
About four in five American adults think the United States is headed in the wrong direction while one in five think it is going the right way, the poll showed.
"I'd like to see some new blood. I'd like to see someone that can walk across half a mile in under half an hour. I do have some health concerns for Biden and a little bit for Trump," Marlene Tucker, an independent voter, told Xinhua at a polling station in Arlington, Virginia Tuesday.
At a recent Nikki Haley campaign event in Tysons, Virginia, an independent voter who declined to give his name told Xinhua that he supports Haley because the country needs change.
"Neither the current president nor the past president offers what they should be with the requirements of the job. They have lost their perspective," he said.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll in late January, 67 percent said they are tired of seeing the same candidates in presidential elections and want someone new. Majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents share that sentiment.
"The majority is unhappy that this is the best the system can offer," Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua.
"The rematch will heighten the sense that the system isn't working for ordinary people," Ramsay said.
