Anthony Northcote
President of the United States Joe Biden has conclusively won the first Democratic primary, beginning his largely unchallenged march towards regaining his party’s presidential nomination.
On this occasion, the Democrats have altered the order states in its presidential nomination process, selecting South Carolina to go first, instead of the conventional Iowa. Typically, South Carolina’s primary is third after the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary.
In recent years, the incumbent president has not faced serious opposition to their party’s nomination, should they wish to seek it, and 2024 on the Democratic side has been no different.
While Robert F Kennedy Junior, the nephew of former President John F Kennedy, formally announced his campaign last year, he has never been a serious contender for the nomination. Despite his famous last name, his views against the vaccine have sparked massive controversy, and make it difficult to consider a scenario in which his campaign is successful. He was unable to receive any delegates in South Carolina.
Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips make up the others seeking the nomination, but with only 2% of the vote each, they also failed to win any delegates. Therefore, Joe Biden, with over 95% of the vote, was able to secure all 55 delegates available, and his bid to secure the nomination is off to the dominant start most expected.
When Biden won this state four years ago, beating Bernie Sanders, the black vote was a key factor in his victory. Many felt that during his time in office, Biden had “lost traction” with black voters, holding an approval rating of only 42%. However, in this election, black voters made up 76% of the vote, a sharp increase from the 56% they made up four years ago. However, voter turnout in general was far lower this time around, suggesting a likely Trump-Biden rematch is not getting the public excited about the election.
Presidential hopeful Dean Phillips mentioned the low voter turnout, stating that voters are “disappointed” about so few presidential options, prompting a 2020 rematch.
The Democrats head to Nevada on the 6th of February, and Michigan later that month.
Overall, this result was expected, and the prospect of a 2020 rematch this November is becoming more likely as the same two candidates charge towards their respective party’s nomination.
Anthony Northcote
Featured image courtesy of Jonathan Simcoe via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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