Trump, Biden dominate Super Tuesday contests towards rematch

WASHINGTON: Former President Donald Trump swept to victory in statewide nominating contests across the country on Tuesday, setting up a historic rematch in November’s general election despite low approval ratings for both candidates.

Trump won the Republican votes in a dozen states – including delegate-rich California and Texas – brushing aside former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, his lone remaining rival, who no longer has a viable path to the nomination. Her only win of the night thus far came in Vermont.

After a commanding performance across 15 states where more than one-third of Republican delegates were up for grabs on Super Tuesday, Trump had all but clinched his third consecutive presidential nomination, despite facing a litany of criminal charges.

Trump and Biden trained their focus on each other as the results became clear. In a victory speech delivered at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida, Trump focused on Biden’s immigration policies 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 a statement, Biden again cast Trump as 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.

Biden had been expected to sail through the Democratic contests, though a protest vote in Minnesota organized by activists opposed to his forceful support of Israel attracted unexpectedly strong results.

The “uncommitted” vote in Minnesota stood at nearly 20% with more than half the estimated vote counted, according to Edison, higher even than the 13% that a similar effort in Michigan drew last week.

Biden won Minnesota and 14 other states, including a mail-in vote in Iowa that ended on Tuesday. He did suffer one loss, in the US territory of American Samoa’s caucus, where entrepreneur Jason Palmer won 51 votes to Biden’s 40, according to the American Samoa Democratic Party.

Another campaign between Trump, 77, and Biden, 81 – the first repeat US presidential matchup since 1956 – is one few Americans seem to want. Opinion polls show both Biden and Trump have low approval ratings among voters.

Immigration and the economy were leading concerns for Republican voters, Edison exit polls in California, North Carolina and Virginia showed.

Tuesday’s results will only intensify the pressure on Haley to drop out of the race. She did not make a public appearance on Tuesday, and her campaign has not scheduled any events going forward.

In a statement, her spokesperson said the vote showed “there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump.”

Trump is scheduled to begin his first criminal trial on March 25 in New York, where he is charged with falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments during his 2016 presidential run.

In addition to the New York case, Trump faces separate federal and Georgia state charges for election interference, though it is unclear whether either case will reach trial before the Nov 5 election. He also faces federal charges for retaining classified documents after leaving office.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in all four criminal cases. Biden faces his own weaknesses, including widespread concern about his age. He is already the oldest US president in history.