Trump, Biden dominate Super Tuesday contests

Reuters

Publisted at 8:36 AM, Wed Mar 6th, 2024

President Joe Biden and 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 popularity ratings for both candidates.


Trump won the Republican votes in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, brushing aside former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, his lone remaining rival, whose campaign no longer has an viable path to the nomination.

The incumbent Biden had been expected to sail through the Democratic contests, though activists opposed to his strong support of Israel urged Muslim Americans and progressives to cast "uncommitted" protest votes in Minnesota as they did before in Michigan.


The president easily won in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia, Edison projected. He also won a mail-in vote in Iowa that ended on Tuesday.

Another campaign between Trump, 77, and Biden, 81 - the first repeat U.S. 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 are leading concerns for voters in both parties, Edison exit polls in California, North Carolina and Virginia showed. A majority of Republican voters in those states said they backed deporting illegal immigrants. Trump, who frequently denigrates migrants, has promised to mount the largest deportation effort in U.S. history if elected.


Katherine Meredith, a 65-year-old homemaker, voted for Trump in California's Huntington Beach, which includes a significant Trump base despite California's strong Democratic leanings.


"The border is a complete catastrophe," Meredith said.


Trump, who has dominated the Republican campaign despite facing a litany of criminal charges, has won all but one of the contests so far, winnowing a sprawling Republican field of candidates down to two.

 

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