Super Tuesday: Biden and Trump move closer to clinching the nomination

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are poised to take another step toward their respective parties’ presidential nominations during Super Tuesday, the busiest day of primaries, even as many voters remain fresh from the duel from four years ago. Prefer something other than confrontation.

Sixteen states – from Alaska and California to Vermont and Virginia – and the territory of American Samoa hold primaries on so-called Super Tuesday. Hundreds of delegates are at stake, the most in a single day for any party.

Biden started the day with a win in Iowa. The state held its caucuses in January, but did not release primary results until Super Tuesday to conform with new Democratic National Committee rules, which rearranged the primary calendar. Start with South Carolina and give more participation to people of color.

While most of the attention is on the presidential race, the lower level vote is also important: California will choose the candidates who will compete for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat. The gubernatorial race in North Carolina, a state where both parties are hotly contested, will be decided before November. And in Los Angeles, a progressive prosecutor is trying to defend his position in a race that could serve as a barometer of the political value of fighting crime.

However, the spotlight has been on Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, who continue to dominate their parties, even though both face questions about their age and neither enjoys widespread popularity among ordinary voters. .

The earliest date any of them can become their party’s virtual nominee is March 12 for Trump and March 19 for Biden. But in a marked difference from previous years’ Super Tuesdays, both candidates are practically settled, and Biden and Trump are gearing up for a rematch of the 2020 presidential election next November.

“We have to defeat Biden; “He’s the worst president in history,” Trump said Tuesday on the morning television show Fox & Friends.

Biden responded with a pair of radio interviews aimed at boosting his support among black voters who helped solidify his 2020 coalition.

“If we lose this election, they will have Donald Trump again,” Biden said on “Dede in the Morning,” hosted by Dede McGuire. “The way he talks, the way he acts and the way he treats the African-American community, I think it’s outrageous.”

Despite Trump and Biden’s dominance in their parties, polls have made it clear that common voters do not want this election to be similar to 2020. A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that a majority of citizens believe neither Biden nor Trump should have the mental capacity to remain in office.

“In my opinion, they both failed to unify the country,” said Brian Hadley, 66, of Raleigh, North Carolina.

The days leading up to Super Tuesday demonstrated the uniqueness of this year’s campaign. Instead of campaigning in primary states, Biden and Trump held side events at the border with Mexico, each trying to take political advantage of the contentious issue of immigration.

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Trump can be on the ballot despite efforts by several states to oust him because of charges of inciting the attack on the Capitol, prompting Trump to accuse Biden of using judicial impeachment against him. Mentioned 91 criminal charges. The system as a political weapon.

“Fight your own battles,” Trump said. “Do not use prosecutors or judges to attack your opponent.”

Biden will deliver his annual State of the Union address on Thursday, and later campaign in Pennsylvania and Georgia, two states with no clear political preference.

There, the President will defend policies that have led to “unprecedented job creation, the world’s strongest economy, rising wages and family wealth, and lower drug and energy costs.” said Ben LaBolt, White House communications director. in a statement.

Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporter Steve LeBlanc in Boston; David Sharp, in Portland, Maine; Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia; Trisha Ahmed in Eden Prairie, Minnesota; and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.