The US president received a boost last month after he won an unsanctioned primary election in New Hampshire without even appearing on the ballot, the Guardian reported.
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According to the Associated Press, Biden is overwhelmingly favored against Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson. Yet the Democratic National Committee officially replaced Iowa with South Carolina in its presidential primary’s leadoff spot following a “long and sometimes contentious process”.
Biden pushed for South Carolina to go first followed three days later by Nevada. The new calendar also moves the Democratic primary of Michigan, a large and diverse swing state, to Feb. 27, before the expansive field of states voting on March 5, known as Super Tuesday.
“South Carolina, you are the first primary in the nation and President Biden and I are counting on you,” Vice President Kamala Harris was quoted by the Associated Press as saying on Friday. The president and first lady Jill Biden also recently campaigned in the state.
What happened in 2020 in South Carolina?
It was Biden’s win in South Carolina in the 2020 Democratic primary that “rescued his broke and flailing campaign”. His victory back then had reportedly convinced rivals that he was best positioned to win with Black voters and defeat Donald Trump.
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In the 2020 general election, Black voters made up 11 percent of the national electorate, and 9 in 10 of them supported Biden, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of that election’s voters.
The state is reliably Republican, but 26 percent of its residents are Black, the Associated Press reported. Many Black Democrats in South Carolina are still loyal to Biden after he was vice president to the nation’s first Black president, Barack Obama, the Associated Press reported.
Why Black voters support Biden
Black voters, interviewed during the recent early voting period, listed a range of reasons for supporting Biden — from his administration’s defense of abortion rights to appointing Black jurists and other minorities to the federal courts.
Some echoed Biden’s warnings that former President Donald Trump, the heavy front-runner for the Republican nomination, would threaten democracy as he continues to push lies that the 2020 vote was stolen.
“We can’t live with a leader that will make this into a dictatorship. We can’t live in a place that is not a democracy. That will be a fall for America,” said LaJoia Broughton, a 42-year-old small business owner in Columbia. “So my vote is with Biden. It has been with Biden and will continue to be with Biden.”
Biden’s age a concern?
Some voters said they were concerned about the 81-year-old Biden’s age, as many Americans have said they are in public polling. Trump is 77. Both men have had a series of public flubs that have fueled skepticism about their readiness.
“They’re as old as I am and to have these two guys be the only choices, that’s kind of difficult,” said Charles Trower, a 77-year-old from Blythewood, South Carolina. “But I would much rather have President Biden than even consider the other guy.”
New Hampshire held a primary last week that defied the new calendar and wasn’t sanctioned by the DNC. Still, Biden won the state via write-in and a big South Carolina victory could begin to allay concerns of a majority of voters.
In the meantime, the Democratic establishment — and even potential presidential hopefuls who could have competed against the president from the left or middle — have lined up behind Biden.
The GOP’s South Carolina primary is February 24.
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Published: 03 Feb 2024, 10:49 PM IST