Washington: US President Joe Biden and his Republican rival and predecessor Donald Trump have easily won their presidential primaries in four more states as they are set for a 2020 rematch in November.
On Tuesday, hundreds of delegates were up for grabs in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and the crucial battleground state of Wisconsin.
Multiple names remained on the presidential ballots in the four states, though neither Trump, 77, nor Biden, 81, faced any major challenger.
In all the four states where the primaries were held Tuesday, Trump bagged more than 75 per cent of the votes, while Biden, a Democrat, received more than 80 per cent of the votes.
Trump with four wins now has 1,860 delegates. Biden has so far won 3,030 delegates as against the minimum requirement of 1,968 delegates.
Biden and Trump have already amassed enough delegates to win their respective nominations. But the turnout could provide more clues about the election on November 5.
Their rematch is expected to mirror the 2020 campaign, though Trump will run this time under the spectre of 91 felony charges.
Their nominations will be confirmed at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
Connecticut and Rhode Island allowed voters to vote “uncommitted” in the primary, while Wisconsin offered a similar option of “uninstructed delegation”.
There was an effort in Wisconsin on Tuesday by anti-Biden protesters to encourage people in the Democratic primary to pick the “uninstructed” option in opposition to Biden’s policies on the Israel-Hamas war.
Pressure has been growing on Biden especially, to push harder for a ceasefire in Gaza, with some states, including Michigan, fostering similar campaigns for residents to submit “uncommitted votes” for the president.
These victories offer insights into base voter enthusiasm for the upcoming 2020 rematch, particularly in Wisconsin, a crucial November battleground.
Biden and the Democratic National Committee have outpaced Trump and the Republicans in fundraising. Biden claimed the largest single-event fundraising record last week when he received USD 26 million at a star-studded New York event. Trump hopes to bring in USD 33 million at a Palm Beach, Florida fundraiser.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that Democrats have been growing increasingly anxious about public polls showing Trump making unprecedented inroads among Black and Hispanic voters.
“But there may be reasons for Republicans to feel uneasy about these polls too,” it said, adding that surveys now consistently show Trump leading President Joe Biden nationally and in almost all of the key swing states.
PTI