Washington: US President Joe Biden and his predecessor and rival Donald Trump inched closer to a presidential rematch in November by notching more victories in the primaries. Trump and Biden won the primaries in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio, and the former President also won in Florida, where Democrats had cancelled their primaries and awarded all delegates to Biden.

In Florida, Trump swept the Republican primary taking home all the 125 delegates. Indian-origin former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has now withdrawn from the race, got 14 per cent of the votes and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received four per cent of the votes in a low turnout. Now Trump has 1,623 delegates and Biden has 2,483 delegates.

Meanwhile, Bernie Moreno, a wealthy car dealer, won the Republican primary in Ohio. He was backed by Trump, who praised his endorsed candidate as a “warrior” and ramped up his dark rhetoric, saying that were he not to be elected, “it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country”.

There was little suspense about Tuesday’s results as both candidates are already their parties’ presumptive nominees. The primaries and key down-ballot races have now become a reflection of the national political mood. With many Americans unenthusiastic about 2024’s choice for the White House, both Biden and Trump’s campaigns are working to fire up their bases by tearing into each other and warning of the perils of the opponent.

What will people choose?

Biden and Trump’s rematch is unwanted by most Americans. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in January showed that 67 per cent of respondents were “tired of seeing the same candidates in presidential elections and want someone new”, although just 18 per cent said they would not vote if Biden and Trump were their choices.

However, polls show most Americans being disappointed by Biden’s policies and the state of the economy under his presidency. Democrats remain deeply divided about the 81-year-old commander-in-chief returning to the White House, while Republicans are overwhelmingly backing Trump in the upcoming contest.

“I wanted to encourage him that the fight has been worthwhile, that more of us are behind him than maybe the media tells you,” Pat Shackleford, 84, who voted for Trump, told the Associated Press on Tuesday. Jamie and Cassandra Neal, sisters who both live in Phoenix, said they were unenthusiastic Biden supporters until they saw the vigour the president brought to his State of the Union speech.

Trump and Biden have for weeks been focused on the general election, aiming their campaigns lately on states that could be competitive in November rather than merely those holding primaries, casting each other as threats to America. Trump, 77, portrays the 81-year-old Biden as mentally unfit. The president has described his Republican rival as a threat to democracy after his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and his praise of foreign strongmen.

Vulnerabilities in both campaigns

Joe Biden’s election campaign is fraught with numerous challenges, recently stemming from an illegal migration crisis and his staunch backing of Israel in its war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza which has killed 31,000 people. Trump and Republicans have hammered Biden on the influx of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border in recent years, seeking to capitalise on the issue well beyond border states.

On the other hand, Donald Trump faces a myriad of criminal charges, aces 91 felony counts across four separate indictments that could harm his standing among the suburban, well-educated voters whose support he has historically struggled to garner. His first criminal trial was scheduled to start Monday in New York on allegations he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments – but it has been delayed by a month.

Trump insisted the cases against him were political and defended himself against criticism of his attacks a day earlier on Jewish Democrats, in which he alleged they hate Israel and their own religion. Democratic leaders on Tuesday criticized his comments as promoting antisemitic tropes about having divided loyalties.

(with inputs from agencies)

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