Tag: US president polls

Biden and Trump sweep Super Tuesday primaries; put pressure on Haley to end her campaign

Post By World , , , , , ,

U.S. President Joe Biden from the Democratic Party and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump have swept in their parties’ presidential nomination primaries held in 15 states across the country, paving the way for a rematch between them in November and putting pressure on Indian-American candidate Nikki Haley to quit.

After Super Tuesday’s election results, Mr. Trump, 77, is hoping to establish a commanding lead in the delegate count and vanquish his only Republican opponent, Ms. Haley.

Seeking his re-election, Mr. Biden, 81, swept almost all the Democratic primary states.

He lost to Jason Palmer in American Samoa.

OPINION | Narrowing field: On 2024 U.S. presidential election’s Republican primaries race

“Joe Biden isn’t facing any major competition in the primary cycle, and has won all the Democratic contests so far tonight, CNN projects, as he gears up for a likely rematch with Mr. Trump in November,” CNN said.

Ms. Haley, 52, the former U.S. envoy to the U.N. failed to make a mark Tuesday even as she showed strong support in the states of Vermont, where she won.

That victory, however, will do little to dent Mr. Trump’s primary dominance.

Mr. Trump prevailed in most of the Super Tuesday states: California, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Utah, Minnesota, Colorado, Arkansas and Maine.

Super Tuesday is an important phase of presidential primaries when the early contests are over, and voters from multiple states cast ballots in primaries timed to occur on the same date. Almost all the results were one-sided in favour of Trump except for Vermont, where the winning difference was about one per cent.

More than a third of all the Republican delegates were at stake on Super Tuesday, the biggest haul of any date on the primary calendar.

To win the presidential nomination of the Republican party, either of the two candidates needs 1,215 delegates, who are elected during the primaries. Before Super Tuesday, Mr. Trump had 244 delegates in his kitty, while Ms. Haley had 43.

Speaking from Palm Beach, Florida, Mr. Trump claimed that “we have a very divided country,” and vowed to unify it soon.

“This was an amazing night and an amazing day, it’s been an incredible period of time in our country’s history,” Mr. Trump said at his election night watch party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

“We have a very divided country. We have a country [where] a political person uses weaponisation against his political opponents,” he said.

He compared the state of the U.S. political system to “third-world countries”.

“Never happened here. It happens in other countries, but they’re third-world countries. And in some ways, we’re a third-world country.” Talking up some of his achievements from his time in office, notably the half-built border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, Mr. Trump claimed he delivered “the safest borders in the history of our country” and went on to rail against what he described as “migrant crime”, without citing any evidence.

Also Read | AI chatbots’ inaccurate, misleading responses about U.S. elections threaten to keep voters from polls

“And so the world is laughing at us, the world is taking advantage of us,” he said.

He goes on to describe his aims to make the U.S. “energy independent and energy dominant”.

“All the… tragedy, you will not have to think of it. All of the problems we have today, we would not have had any of them,” he said.

“You would only have success and that is what ultimately going to unify this country and unify this party,” he added.

‘Trump driven by grievance and grift’: Biden

Earlier, Mr. Biden touted the work his administration has accomplished in its first term in office while issuing a stark warning that a second Trump term would mean a return to “chaos, division, and darkness.” “Four years ago, I ran because of the existential threat Donald Trump posed to the America we all believe in,” Mr. Biden wrote in a statement, highlighting progress under his administration on jobs, inflation, prescription drug prices, and gun control.

He then warned that if Mr. Trump returns to the White House, the progress his administration has made will be at risk.

“(Mr. Trump) is driven by grievance and grift, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people,” Mr. Biden noted.

‘Haley getting nowhere’: Trump

Ms. Haley, the former South Carolina governor, said she has not made a final decision as to whether or not she would endorse her ex-boss Mr. Trump if she ends her presidential bid, but her campaign is receiving a lot of feedback on the subject, sources familiar with recent discussions tell CNN.

People who are close to Ms. Haley have different opinions. Some believe that it would be good for her to back Mr. Trump because she would be viewed as a team player. Others ardently oppose her endorsing him because that would give Ms. Haley the freedom to be critical of Mr. Trump and build her own movement. They have shared those opinions with Ms. Haley and her campaign in recent days and weeks, sources said, CNN said.

Ms. Haley herself has recently said she is not focused on endorsing anyone because she is focused on winning herself.

Mr. Trump, however, in an interview on Tuesday bashed Ms. Haley, saying she was angry because her campaign is “just getting nowhere.” CNN reported earlier this evening that Mr. Trump’s team is aware he won’t cross the delegate threshold tonight to become the presumptive Republican nominee, but the hope is that he secures enough delegates to ensure he does meet that milestone as early as next Tuesday, March 12.

Mr. Trump’s campaign is also hoping that a definitive win in Super Tuesday will effectively force Ms. Haley to drop out of the race.

“President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump romped through the opening contests of Super Tuesday, piling up wins in states including Texas, the second-largest delegate prize of the night, as they moved inexorably toward their parties’ nominations and a rematch for the White House in November,” The New York Times reported.

“Former president Donald Trump and President Biden are dominating Super Tuesday contests with roughly one-third of the delegates at stake that will determine the Republican and Democratic party nominations. Voters in 15 states are participating in primaries or caucuses,” The Washington Post said.

Source link

#Biden #Trump #sweep #Super #Tuesday #primaries #put #pressure #Haley #campaign

Joe Biden declared ‘fit for duty’ as age issue looms in U.S. presidential election

Post By World , , , , , ,

February 29, 2024 08:52 am | Updated 08:52 am IST – BETHESDA, Md.

President Joe Biden “continues to be fit for duty,” his doctor wrote on February 28 after conducting an annual physical that is being closely watched as the 81-year-old seeks re-election in November.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Mr. Biden’s physician, wrote that the president is adjusting well to a new device that helps control his sleep apnea and has experienced some hip discomfort but also works out five times per week.

Also Read | U.S. President Joe Biden launches 2024 re-election bid

“President Biden is a healthy, active, robust, 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency,” Dr. O’Connor said in a six-page memo on the president’s health, following a physical that took Mr. Biden to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for more than 2 1/2 hours.

His memo added that Mr. Biden “feels well and this year’s physical identifies no new concerns.”

The oldest president in U.S. history, Mr. Biden would be 86 by the end of a second term, should he win one. His latest physical mirrored one he had in February last year when Dr. O’Connor described Mr. Biden as “healthy, vigorous” and “fit” to handle his White House duties.

Still, voters are approaching this year’s election with misgivings about Mr. Biden’s age, having scrutinised his gaffes, his coughing, his slow walking and even a tumble off his bicycle.

After he returned to the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Biden attended an event on combating crime and suggested that when it came to his health “everything is squared away” and “there is nothing different than last year.”

Also Read | Joe Biden | From being one of the youngest senators to oldest U.S. president

He also joked about his age and people thinking “I look too young.”

Former President Donald Trump, 77, is the favourite to lock up the Republican nomination later this month, which would bring him closer to a November rematch against Mr. Biden. Mr. Trump was 70 when he took office in 2017, which made him the oldest American president to be inaugurated — until Mr. Biden broke his record by being inaugurated at 78 in 2021.

Watch | A quick look at the oldest and youngest U.S. presidents 

Dr. O’Connor’s report said that Mr. Biden’s stiff walking was no worse than last year and was the result of arthritic changes in his spine. He said the president also noted “some increased left hip discomfort.” There were no signs of stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or other similar conditions in what the report called an “extremely detailed neurologic exam.”

Also Read | Trump calls himself a ‘proud political dissident’ in CPAC speech

Mr. Biden, last summer, began using a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine at night to help with sleep apnea, and Dr. O’Connor wrote that the president had responded well to that treatment and is “diligently compliant” about using it.

A recent special counsel’s report on the investigation into Mr. Biden’s handling of classified documents repeatedly derided Mr. Biden’s memory, calling it “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It also noted that Mr. Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president.

Still, addressing reporters the evening of the report’s release, Mr. Biden said “my memory is fine” and grew visibly angry as he denied forgetting when his son died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Dr. O’Connor was one of a team of 20 different medical specialists who helped complete the physical.

Asked why Mr. Biden wasn’t undergoing a cognitive test as part of the physical, Ms. Jean-Pierre said that Dr. O’Connor and Mr. Biden’s neurologist “don’t believe he needs one.”

“He passes a cognitive test every day, every day as he moves from one topic to another topic, understanding the granular level of these topics,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said, noting that Mr. Biden tackled such diverse issues as Wednesday’s crime prevention event before his planned trip to the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday and next week’s State of the Union address.

Also Read | U.S. poised for a potential presidential ‘rematch’ of far-reaching implications

“This is a very rigorous job,” she added.

That picture of the president doesn’t reflect the type of struggles with routine tasks that might indicate the need for further tests, said Dr. Michael Rosenbloom, a neurologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

“Constantly questioning older folks who may have an occasional lapse is a form of ageism,” Dr. Rosenbloom said.

From sleep apnea to arthritis, Mr. Biden’s health report “seems pretty run of the mill for an 81-year-old person,” said Dr. Jeffrey A. Linder, chief of general internal medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

“His doctors are in a unique position to assess his cognitive ability on a daily basis,” Dr. Linder said. “These doctors are able to see how he’s functioning day to day. That’s much more useful” than a cognitive assessment.

Many Americans, including Democrats, have expressed reservations about Mr. Biden seeking a second term during this fall’s election. Only 37% of Democrats say Mr. Biden should pursue re-election, down from 52% before the 2022 midterm elections, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Mr. Biden counters that his age brings wisdom, and he has begun to criticise Mr. Trump for the former president’s recent public gaffes.

The president joked that his age was classified information and suggested during a taping in New York on Monday of Late Night With Seth Meyers that Mr. Trump mistakenly called his wife Melania, “Mercedes” during a weekend speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference — though the Trump campaign says he was correctly referring to political commentator Mercedes Schlapp.

Mr. Trump has indeed had his share of verbal miscues, mixing up the city and state where he was campaigning, calling Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the leader of Turkey and repeatedly mispronouncing the militant group Hamas as “hummus.” More recently, he confused his Republican primary rival Nikki Haley with former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

While he was president, Mr. Trump’s annual physical in 2019 revealed that he had gained weight and was up to 243 pounds. With his 6-foot, 3-inch frame, that meant Mr. Trump’s Body Mass Index was 30.4. An index rating of 30 is the level at which doctors consider someone obese under this commonly used formula.

Wednesday’s report listed Mr. Biden as 6-foot tall and weighing 178 pounds.

Source link

#Joe #Biden #declared #fit #duty #age #issue #looms #presidential #election

Biden and Trump win Michigan primaries, edging closer to a rematch

Post By World , , , , ,

February 28, 2024 08:22 am | Updated 08:25 am IST – DEARBORN, Mich.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won the Michigan primaries on February 27, further solidifying the all-but-certain rematch between the two men.

Mr. Biden defeated Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, his one significant opponent left in the Democratic primary. But Democrats were also closely watching the results of the “uncommitted” vote, as Michigan has become the epicentre for dissatisfied members of Mr. Biden’s coalition that propelled him to victory in the state — and nationally — in 2020. The number of “uncommitted” votes has already surpassed the 10,000-vote margin by which Mr. Trump won Michigan in 2016, surpassing a goal set by organisers of this year’s protest effort.

Also Read | U.S. presidential race 2024: Key dates and events

As for Mr. Trump, he has now swept the first five states on the Republican primary calendar. His victory in Michigan over his last major primary challenger, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, comes after the former president defeated her by 20 percentage points in her home state of South Carolina on Saturday. The Trump campaign is looking to lock up the 1,215 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination sometime in mid-March.

Both campaigns are watching Tuesday’s results for more than just whether they won as expected. For Mr. Biden, a large number of voters choosing “uncommitted” could mean he’s in significant trouble with parts of the Democratic base in a state he can hardly afford to lose in November. Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has underperformed with suburban voters and people with a college degree, and faces a faction within his own party that believes he broke the law in one or more of the criminal cases against him.

Mr. Biden has already sailed to wins in South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire. The New Hampshire victory came via a write-in campaign as Mr. Biden did not formally appear on the ballot after the state broke the national party rules by going ahead of South Carolina, which had been designated to go first among the Democratic nominating contests.

Both the White House and Mr. Biden campaign officials have made trips to Michigan in recent weeks to talk with community leaders about the Israel-Hamas war and how Mr. Biden has approached the conflict, but those leaders, along with organisers of the “uncommitted” effort, have been undeterred.

The robust grassroots effort, which has been encouraging voters to select “uncommitted” as a way to register objections to his handling of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, has been Mr. Biden’s most significant political challenge in the early contests. That push, which began in earnest just a few weeks ago, has been backed by officials such as Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman in Congress, and former Rep. Andy Levin.

Our Revolution, the organising group once tied to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had also urged progressive voters to choose “uncommitted” Tuesday, saying it would send a message to Mr. Biden to “change course NOW on Gaza or else risk losing Michigan to Mr. Trump in November.”

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C..
| Photo Credit:
AP

Mr. Trump won the state by just 11,000 votes in 2016 over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and then lost the state four years later by nearly 154,000 votes to Mr. Biden. Organisers of the “uncommitted” effort wanted to show that they have at least the number of votes that were Mr. Trump’s margin of victory in 2016, to demonstrate how influential the bloc can be, and they reached that figure not long after the first round of polls in Michigan closed at 8 p.m.

Mariam Mohsen, a 35-year-old teacher from Dearborn, Michigan, said she had planned to vote “uncommitted” on Tuesday in order to send a message alongside other voters that “no candidate will receive our votes if they continue to support genocide in Gaza.”

“Four years ago I voted for Joe Biden. It was important that we vote to get Trump out of office,” Ms. Mohsen continued. “Today, I feel very disappointed in Joe Biden and I don’t feel like I did the right thing last election. Trump is the nominee in November I would not vote for Trump. I would not vote for Trump or Biden. I don’t think, in terms of foreign policy, there will be any difference.”

Mr. Trump’s dominance of the early states is unparalleled since 1976, when Iowa and New Hampshire began their tradition of holding the first nominating contests. He has won resounding support from most pockets of the Republican voting base, including evangelical voters, conservatives and those who live in rural areas. But Mr. Trump has struggled with college-educated voters, losing that bloc in South Carolina to Ms. Haley on Saturday night.

Even senior figures in the Republican Party who have been sceptical of Mr. Trump are increasingly falling in line. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican who has been critical of the party’s standard-bearer, endorsed Mr. Trump for president on Sunday.

Shaher Abdulrab, 35, an engineer from Dearborn, said Tuesday morning that he voted for Mr. Trump. Mr. Abdulrab said he believes Arab Americans have a lot more in common with Republicans than Democrats.

Mr. Abdulrab said he voted four years ago for Mr. Biden but believes Mr. Trump will win the general election in November partly because of the backing he would get from Arab Americans.

“I’m not voting for Trump because I want Trump. I just don’t want Biden,” Mr. Abdulrab said. “He (Mr. Biden) didn’t call to stop the war in Gaza.”

OPINION | Narrowing field: On 2024 U.S. presidential election’s Republican primaries race

Still, Ms. Haley has vowed to continue her campaign through at least Super Tuesday on March 5, pointing to a not-insignificant swath of Republican primary voters who have continued to support her despite Mr. Trump’s tightening grip on the GOP.

She also outraised Mr. Trump’s primary campaign committee by almost $3 million in January. That indicates that some donors continue to look at Ms. Haley, despite her longshot prospects, as an alternative to Mr. Trump should his legal problems imperil his chances of becoming the nominee.

Two of Mr. Trump’s political committees raised just $13.8 million in January, according to campaign finance reports released last week, while collectively spending more than they took in. Much of the money spent from Mr. Trump’s political committees is the millions of dollars in legal fees to cover his court cases.

With nominal intraparty challengers, Mr. Biden has been able to focus on beefing up his cash reserves. The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee announced last week that it had raised $42 million in contributions during January from 422,000 donors.

The president ended the month with $130 million in cash on hand, which campaign officials said is the highest total ever raised by any Democratic candidate at this point in the presidential cycle.

The Republican Party is also aligning behind Mr. Trump as he continued to be besieged with legal problems that will pull him from the campaign trail as the November election nears. He is facing 91 criminal changes across four separate cases, ranging from his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost, to retaining classified documents after his presidency to allegedly arranging secret payoffs to an adult film actor.

His first criminal trial, in the case involving hush money payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels, is scheduled to begin on March 25 in New York.

Source link

#Biden #Trump #win #Michigan #primaries #edging #closer #rematch