Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 10
Donald Trump will aim to deliver a Super Tuesday knockout blow to his lone challenger for the Republican US presidential nomination, Nikki Haley, as 15 states hold Republican contests on the biggest voting day of the primary season.
The former president, who has dominated the Republican campaign from the start despite his litany of criminal charges, has swept all but one of the contests so far, winnowing a sprawling Republican field of candidates down to two.
While Trump cannot win enough delegates on Tuesday to formally clinch the nomination, another dominant performance would essentially end any remaining sliver of suspense. Tuesday’s contests will award more than one-third of Republican delegates – and more than 70% of the number needed to secure the nomination.
A third consecutive nomination for Trump would set up a rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden in November’s election. Biden is expected to win Tuesday’s Democratic contests easily, though activists opposed to Biden’s Israel policy are calling on Muslim Americans and progressives to vote “uncommitted” in Minnesota in protest.
Haley, a former U.N. ambassador under Trump, has faced mounting questions about how long she will continue her long-shot campaign, particularly after losing her home state of South Carolina 10 days ago.
She has not made any promises beyond Super Tuesday, and her campaign has not scheduled any public events on Tuesday or beyond.
“As much as everybody wants to go and push me out, I’m not ready to get out yet,” she told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday morning.
Trump was leading Haley in every Super Tuesday state where public polling data was available, according to poll tracking website 538. In California and Texas, which together account for more than 300 delegates, Trump was ahead by an average of more than 50 percentage points.
But Haley allies see a narrow window of opportunity to eke out a win in states including Virginia, Massachusetts and Vermont, which have more of the wealthy, college-educated voters who tend to support her candidacy.
Those three states are also among several on Super Tuesday that do not require primary voters be registered Republicans. Independent and moderate voters have favored Haley over Trump in early voting states, according to exit polls from Edison Research.
Asked if he would reach out to Haley after Tuesday’s results, Trump said his focus was on Biden.
“I think we’re going to win every state tonight,” he told Fox News in a separate interview.
Source: Reuters
