This Tuesday marks the return of "Super Tuesday," a quadrennial tradition in which voters from 16 US states and one US territory cast ballots in the presidential primary.
Super Tuesday has historically given us a good idea of which candidates will secure their parties' presidential nominations. For instance, Joe Biden's victory in ten Super Tuesday states in 2020 put an end to Bernie Sanders' ascent to the Democratic candidature. After that, Biden ran as the Democratic nominee and defeated Trump in the general election, according to The Guardian.
Super Tuesday, though, is significantly less exciting this year. Given how easily Biden and Trump have won the early-voting states, both parties already know exactly who will be their nominees. Nikki Haley, a Republican running for president, is still in the contest against Trump, but given that she has only been able to win one primary thus far, prospects for her campaign are low.
Even though this year's primaries were lacklustre, Super Tuesday may yet offer important hints about each party's position before the general election in November. Everything you should know about Super Tuesday is as follows:
Tuesday's Republican presidential primary will see votes from voters in fifteen states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. Tuesday will also see the Democratic primary elections in every state but Alaska.
In addition to the Democratic caucus being held simultaneously in the US territory of American Samoa, Iowa Democrats have until Tuesday to mail in their primary votes.
Super Tuesday's Republican primary will see 874 of the 2,429 total delegates up for grabs; the victor will need 1,215 delegates in the end to secure the nomination. On Super Tuesday, 1,421 delegates—roughly one-third of all delegates—will be up for grabs in the Democratic race. Biden needs 1,969 delegates to formally win the nomination.
According to the Associated Press, Trump has already secured 244 delegates from the early voting contests; therefore, he will require approximately 1,000 more delegates to secure the nomination.
Although it is improbable that he will surpass that barrier on Super Tuesday, he will probably garner several hundred delegates, putting him in close proximity to an official triumph. The Republican primary may be terminated by Trump as early as this month.
On the other hand, Haley promised to battle until Super Tuesday, even after losing to Trump by 20 points in her own state of South Carolina. She insisted that Republican voters should have been given the chance to vote in the primary.
According to the AP's tracker, Biden has no genuine opposition to the Democratic candidature because his two primary rivals, self-help author Marianne Williamson and congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota, have both failed to secure any delegates to date.