Not-so-Super Tuesday
Primary showdown expected to set course for Biden-Trump II
The 2024 Biden-Trump rematch is set to begin in earnest Tuesday, when Americans in 15 states and one territory vote in presidential primaries.
After a series of decisive early Republican primary wins for Donald Trump and with President Biden facing no serious Democratic challenger, Super Tuesday looks like it will be super-predictable.
But there’s a lot riding on the outcome for both candidates, who face major challenges on the way to the November general election.
Biden is hoping to energize his campaign amid persistent questions about whether the 81-year-old is too old for the job. He’ll have a chance to do so during his State of the Union address on Thursday.
About six in 10 people who voted for Biden in 2020 now say he’s too old to be effective, according to results of a headline-making New York Times/Siena College poll released over the weekend.
Far fewer Trump supporters — only 14% — said the same thing about him, though he’s just four years younger than Biden.
“He’s aged a lot. With the exception of Trump, every president seems to age a lot during their presidency,” one independent voter told The Times.
The issue has even surfaced on “Saturday Night Live.” During this weekend’s opening skit, cast members depicting Biden allies made exaggerated claims about his vigor, drawing laughs.
The president has bristled at criticism about his fitness for office, saying at a February press conference, “I know what the hell I’m doing.”
Amid his Manhattan fraud trial and unprecedented criminal investigations, Trump has managed to finish off all the competition in the GOP presidential contest except for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
But after his latest wins, including in her home state, she is widely expected to exit the race before long.
Trump’s campaign expects to lock down the 1,215 delegate votes required for the Republican nomination by March 19 at the latest, according to The Hill.
Haley hasn’t quit yet, though, recently arguing to voters in Colorado that Trump can’t win the general election.
In the same state, Biden is facing another campaign for Dems to vote “noncommitted” this Tuesday in protest of his stance on Israel’s war on Hamas, according to Axios. Last week in Michigan, over 100,000 Democrats voted that way.
Amid a climbing death toll in Gaza and growing outrage over civilian casualties, Biden has been calling for a ceasefire, so far unsuccessfully.
“It is time for the president to use all the levers that he has to get a long-term ceasefire. I think if that ceasefire doesn’t come in, it’s in Israel’s interest for them to pause military activity to solve the humanitarian crisis,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
“But to the extent the president is using additional leverage on Israel, he should do that for national security reasons, not for political reasons,” he added.
Super Tuesday will see voting in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia, plus the territory of American Samoa.
The Biden campaign expects to benefit once the race is down to just him and Trump, hoping voters will again see the Dem as the trustworthy choice, The Hill noted.
First Lady Jill Biden went on the attack against Trump on Friday in Atlanta, giving a preview of her role on the campaign trail, according to CNN.
“I’ve been so proud of how Joe has placed women at the center of his agenda. But Donald Trump?” the outlet quoted her as saying.
“He spent a lifetime tearing us down and devaluing our existence. He mocks women’s bodies, disrespects our accomplishments and brags about assault. Now he’s bragging about killing Roe v. Wade.”
For his part, Trump has repeated the kind of outlandish statements that characterized his 2016 and 2020 runs.
“Biden’s conduct on our border is by any definition a conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America,” he said Saturday in Greensboro, N.C., according to The Washington Post. “He talks about democracy. He is a danger to democracy.”