President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are a lock to clinch their respective party nominations in the upcoming Super Tuesday elections across 16 states and one territory. Both candidates are concentrating on down-ballot contests, like California voters choosing candidates to compete for the Senate seat long held by Dianne Feinstein, with hundreds of delegates at stake. According to the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, most Americans think neither Biden nor Trump has the mental acuity to be the president.
This year’s campaign has been unique, as Biden has been hosting events along the U.S.-Mexico border to get out in front of the immigration debate. During Trump’s campaign, he made headlines with provocative remarks, like drawing parallels between immigrants and Adolf Hitler and openly stating his ambitions to rule like a dictator if he were to be re-elected. He brought up his four criminal indictments and implied that African Americans could understand his legal issues, which sparked a backlash from the Biden campaign and other prominent Democrats for comparing his situation to the historical injustices experienced by Black individuals in the U.S.
Trump has emerged victorious against over a dozen notable Republican rivals and is now up against Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and two-time governor of South Carolina. Haley has traveled extensively across the country, visiting different Super Tuesday states almost daily for over a week. She is confident that her group of supporters, while smaller than Trump’s, suggests that Biden will defeat the former president.
Trump has emerged as the leading candidate in the initial Republican primary lineup. However, his victories have highlighted vulnerabilities within specific voter demographics, especially in college towns such as Hanover, New Hampshire, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in areas with many independent voters.
Minnesota is on the schedule for Tuesday, a state that Trump did not secure during his successful Super Tuesday performance in 2016. Advocates of the uncommitted vote are pushing for similar protest votes in other areas like Minnesota, known for its significant Muslim population, and disillusioned liberals who do not back Biden.
Even though Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history, his reelection campaign is confident that skeptics will back him once they understand it’s a choice between him and Trump in November. At 77 years old, Trump is scrutinized for his age, particularly following recent errors such as suggesting he was running against Obama.
