What to Know About ‘Super Tuesday’ This Year
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are poised to move much closer to winning their party's nominations during the biggest day of the primary campaign on Tuesday, setting up a historic rematch that many voters would rather not endure.
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00:00 Super Tuesday is the single biggest day of the presidential primary calendar.
00:06 More states vote on that single day than any other.
00:10 More delegates are at stake on that day than any other.
00:13 Iowa and New Hampshire lead off the process for Republicans.
00:17 South Carolina led off the process for Democrats.
00:19 But this is the day that can absolutely make or break a campaign, particularly competitive
00:24 years.
00:25 Super Tuesday originated decades ago as several states, a lot of them in the South, sort of
00:32 banded together to increase their influence in the nominating process in response to sort
00:37 of the early states having developed so much influence, Iowa and New Hampshire.
00:42 So this collective of states sort of got together, moved up kind of as the next phase, next major
00:48 phase of the primary process.
00:50 It has since evolved into a truly national map that we see today for both parties.
00:57 The Super Tuesday slate is as varied as California, a heavily Democratic state that still has
01:03 millions of Republicans.
01:04 So a very important state with a lot of delegates in both parties.
01:07 Massachusetts, several Southern states, one of the most conservative states in the country
01:12 in Alabama.
01:14 Those kinds of places give Super Tuesday that wide breadth.
01:19 Former President Trump and President Biden are big favorites all across the board on
01:24 this Super Tuesday.
01:25 But what to watch is where their weaknesses are and how much those are exposed.
01:31 And that matters because both of these men are not necessarily broadly popular as general
01:36 election candidates.
01:38 For President Trump, he's had wide margins of victory in all of the early states.
01:42 But Nikki Haley has outlasted everyone else.
01:45 It's a two-person race.
01:46 She still got 40% of the vote in South Carolina.
01:49 It doesn't mean the way delegates are distributed that Nikki Haley is any threat to keep her
01:53 from winning the nomination.
01:55 But as long as she's willing to stick around and get a third or 40% or even in a given
02:00 state 45% of the vote, then it is exposing some of his weaknesses as a general election
02:07 candidate.
02:08 President Biden is on his way to being re-nominated for a second term by the Democratic Party.
02:15 But there are still plenty of factions that are frustrated with Biden or not particularly
02:18 encouraged.
02:20 So the thing to watch in a lot of the Democratic primaries is just what the level of turnout
02:24 is.
02:25 But there are still some signs, you know, when it's just unbelievably low that can
02:32 sort of raise some questions.
02:34 And his campaign is certainly spending money and spending some time trying to hit, you
02:39 know, some sort of nebulous sweet spot to at least say, all right, we got enough of
02:44 a signal that our part, the core of our party is still behind this president for a second
02:49 term.
02:50 Super Tuesday in this election year especially will really be the gateway forward to the
02:57 general election campaign.
02:58 We may have some more fights continuing on the Republican side if Nikki Haley does continue
03:04 her campaign.
03:05 But this is the day when enough delegates are at stake, enough states vote that we kind
03:09 of have a bookend on the primary process and we'll be looking forward to a general election
03:15 campaign, almost certainly between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.