Trump, Biden dominate Super Tuesday contests as they march towards rematch

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California/PALM BEACH, Florida - US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump swept to victory in

statewide nominating contests across the country

on March 5, setting up a historic rematch in November’s general election despite low popularity ratings for both candidates.

Trump won the Republican votes in 14 of 15 states – including delegate-rich California and Texas – brushing aside former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.

Her only win of the night came in Vermont

.

Trump’s commanding performance on “Super Tuesday”, when more than one-third of Republican delegates were up for grabs, means he has all but clinched his third consecutive presidential nomination, despite facing a litany of criminal charges.

Trump, 77, and Mr Biden, 81, quickly 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 attacked Mr Biden’s immigration policies and called him the “worst president” in history.

“Our cities are being overrun with migrant crime,” Trump said, though crime data does not support that assertion.

In a statement, Mr 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?” Mr Biden said.

The President sailed through the Democratic contests, although a protest vote in Minnesota and six other states organised by activists opposed to his forceful support of Israel attracted unexpectedly strong results.

The “uncommitted” vote in Minnesota stood at 19 per cent, with nearly 90 per cent of the votes counted, according to Edison Research, higher than the 13 per cent that a similar effort in Michigan drew last week.

Mr Biden nevertheless won Minnesota and 14 other states, including a mail-in vote in Iowa that ended on March 5.

He did suffer one loss – in the US territory of American Samoa, where entrepreneur Jason Palmer won 51 votes to Mr Biden’s 40, according to the American Samoa Democratic Party.

Another campaign between Trump and Mr Biden – the first repeat US presidential match-up since 1956 – is one few Americans seem to want.

Opinion polls show that both have low approval ratings among voters.

Immigration and the economy are leading concerns for Republican voters, 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 US history if elected.

Ms Katherine Meredith, a 65-year-old housewife, 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,” she said.

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

Biden, Trump both show weaknesses

Voters were also casting ballots in down-ticket races.

In California, Democratic US Representative Adam Schiff, the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial, advanced to the general election to succeed the late Democratic US Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Mr Schiff’s opponent will be former baseball player Steve Garvey, a Republican who finished ahead of Democratic US Representative Katie Porter.

California’s electoral system, in which the top two candidates advance regardless of party, prompted Mr Schiff’s campaign to employ an unusual strategy: He ran advertisements designed to boost Mr Garvey among Republican voters, figuring that Mr Garvey would likely be a weaker opponent in November than Ms Porter would be in the Democratic-leaning state.

In North Carolina, Trump-endorsed Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson won the Republican nomination for governor.

Mr Robinson, who would be the state’s first black executive, has drawn criticism for harsh comments on LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) people, women and Muslims.

He will face Democratic Attorney-General Josh Stein in what will be one of the most hotly contested governor races in the country.

Taylor Swift weighs in

Pop megastar Taylor Swift encouraged her fans to vote in a post on Instagram,

though she did not endorse specific candidates.

Mr Biden’s campaign is hopeful the singer will eventually back his candidacy, as she did in 2020.

Mrs Haley’s challenge has highlighted some of Trump’s potential vulnerabilities in a general election.

She has reached 40 per cent in some state contests, and argues that shows independents and moderate Republicans harbour unease about a second Trump term.

About one-third of North Carolina voters said Trump would not be fit to serve as president if he was convicted of a crime, while in Virginia, 53 per cent said he would be fit for the office if convicted.

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 to a porn star 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 November’s election.

He also faces federal charges for retaining classified documents after leaving office.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in all four criminal cases.

Mr Biden faces his own weaknesses, including

widespread concern about his age

. He is the oldest US president in history. REUTERS