“What about voter turnout?”
The primary, the Democratic Party’s first official primary, held in South Carolina, USA on the 3rd (local time) ended with President Joe Biden’s overwhelming victory. However, President Biden is said to have called Democratic Party floor leader Jim Clyburn, who was speaking at a victory celebration event, and asked about voter turnout first.
In a situation where there is no worthy competitor within the Democratic Party, President Biden’s victory is clear, but today’s primary election is known to have the lowest voter turnout in history, and there is still anxiety about the ‘competitiveness’ of the final election against former President Donald Trump. However, President Biden, who has confirmed an approval rating of over 90%, is also assessed to have calmed concerns raised inside and outside the party, such as his advanced age, to some extent through this election.
As of 11:50 PM (local time) on this day, President Biden received 96.2% of the votes based on a 99% vote count. Author Marianne Williamson and Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips were not even compared, receiving only 2.1% and 1.7% of the votes, respectively. Accordingly, President Biden monopolized the 55 delegates allocated to South Carolina. To win the Democratic primary, it is necessary to secure at least 1,968 delegates.
When President Biden’s victory was confirmed from the beginning of the vote count, he said on social media, “I have no doubt that you have put us on the path to winning the presidential election again and making Trump a loser again.” He went on to say, “Trump is leading extreme and dangerous voices determined to divide and degenerate America,” and “we cannot let this go.” After winning with 63.8% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, which was in fact an ‘unofficial primary’, he clearly called for unity against Trump, his rival in the November presidential election, when he won with an overwhelming vote in the first official primary.
However, President Biden’s landslide victory in South Carolina was already a predicted victory. The New York Times said, “There was no drama,” and “the results were strong, as expected.” This year is the first time the Democratic Party has held a primary in South Carolina. The Democratic Party has held its first caucus in Iowa and its first primary in New Hampshire. However, instead of Iowa and New Hampshire, which are overwhelmingly white, South Carolina, where blacks make up about 26%, changed the order of the primaries, saying, “It properly reflects the racial distribution of the United States.”
CNN analyzed that “(the change in the order of primary elections) is an attempt by President Biden to woo voters who are loyal to him.” In fact, it is evaluated that the South Carolina primary on this day revealed the voting power of black voters, who are the core support base. The South Carolina Democratic Party said, “51,710 people participated in early voting, a 33% decrease from the 2020 primary, but the participation of black voters in early voting actually increased by 13%.”
President Biden, who has laid the foundation for re-election in South Carolina, is now expected to accelerate preparations for the general election in earnest. He visited the re-election campaign office that opened in his political hometown of Delaware this morning and said, “Trump has become worse than 2020,” and “(winning the presidential election) is not just a campaign, it is a mission we have been given.” President Biden’s team is poised to further strengthen its offensive targeting Trump, including airing a TV advertisement about abortion rights at the Grammy Awards ceremony on the 4th.
However, the drop in voter turnout in the South Carolina primary poses a significant challenge to President Biden. According to the Associated Press, the number of voters in today’s primary was only about 131,000. This is not only a quarter of the 2020 primary (540,000 people), but also the lowest voter turnout since 2004, when South Carolina switched from a caucus to a primary. One reason is that the structure of the ‘Biden vs. Trump’ finals was delayed and failed to be a box office success. Some analysts say that this is because people of color and young people still feel disappointed with President Biden.
Ultimately, the most important task for President Biden going forward is how to link ‘anti-Trump sentiment’ with voter turnout. Unlike normal re-elections, Biden’s team is adopting a strategy to lead this presidential election to a vote for or against Trump. However, it is difficult to be optimistic about competitiveness in the finals as support among blacks and young people is lower than in 2020. Politico, a political media outlet, pointed out on this day, “President Biden failed to persuade voters in South Carolina why they should go to the polls.”
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.