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United States President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump emerged victorious in statewide nominating contests across the country on Wednesday, paving the way for a historic rematch in November\’s general election despite their low approval ratings.
Trump secured the Republican votes in twelve states, including California and Texas, defeating his sole remaining rival, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley. Haley’s campaign no longer has a viable path to the nomination, with her only win projected in Vermont by Edison Research.
Following a strong performance in 15 states on Super Tuesday, where over one-third of Republican delegates were at stake, Trump was on the verge of securing his third consecutive presidential nomination, despite facing multiple criminal charges.
\’Chaos, division, and darkness\’
As the results unfolded, Trump and Biden turned their attention towards each other.
In a victory speech at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida, Trump criticized Biden’s immigration policies and labeled him as the \”worst president\” in history.
In response, Biden portrayed Trump as a threat to American democracy.
\”The results tonight present the American people with a clear choice: Do we continue moving forward or allow Donald Trump to lead us backwards into the chaos, division, and darkness of his previous term in office?\” Biden remarked.
Biden was expected to easily win the Democratic contests, although a protest vote in Minnesota, organized by activists opposing his strong support for Israel, garnered unexpectedly strong results.
The \”uncommitted\” vote in Minnesota reached nearly 20%, surpassing the 13% seen in a similar effort in Michigan the previous week, with over half of the estimated vote counted, according to Edison.
Despite this, Biden emerged victorious in Minnesota and 14 other states, including a mail-in vote in Iowa that concluded on Tuesday.
He did face a defeat in the American Samoa caucus, where entrepreneur Jason Palmer secured 51 votes compared to Biden’s 40, as reported by the American Samoa Democratic Party.
Another electoral showdown between the 77-year-old Trump and 81-year-old Biden, marking the first repeat presidential matchup since 1956, is not desired by many Americans.
Surveys indicate that both Biden and Trump have low approval ratings among voters.
Immigration and the economy were the top concerns for Republican voters, according to exit polls.
Vermont was the sole state where Haley posed a challenge, holding a slight lead of 49.3% to 46.8% over Trump with 89% of the estimated vote counted, as per Edison.
