On Saturday Eastern Time, the Democratic Party's first primary for the 2024 presidential election was held in South Carolina on the 3rd, and US President Biden easily won the primary.
This victory indicates that Biden has a solid support rating within the party and is expected to ease external doubts about his re-election campaign. This primary election is also seen by the Biden team as a means to win over black voters and independents. Given that polls show that he still lags behind former President Trump in several key swing states, winning over these voters will be crucial for Biden to win re-election.
Biden easily won the South Carolina primary
On Saturday night Eastern Time, about 23 minutes after the Democratic primary vote in South Carolina ended, American media such as the Associated Press and CNBC announced Biden's victory. According to the Associated Press, in the top 20% of the vote count, Biden's approval rating is close to 97%.
Biden's opponents in this primary are only Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips and independent writer Marianne Williamson, both of whom have far lower poll approval ratings than Biden and their chances of winning are slim.
A few minutes after the announcement of Biden's victory by American media, Biden's campaign team issued a presidential statement promoting his economic achievements and emphasizing that voters in South Carolina "proved that the authorities were wrong" - due to various issues such as age, border issues, and economic recession, some election experts and Wall Street insiders are not optimistic about Biden running for re-election.
Given Biden's stable support within the party, the primary elections within the Democratic Party are more like a walk through compared to the Republican Party. However, for the Biden team, their election strategy is to use primaries as a means to win over voters and gain more support from Republicans.
Black voters make up more than half of the Democratic voters in South Carolina, and Biden has made this the first stop on his primary schedule, aiming to use this primary to win over more black voters. In the November presidential election, the support of the black community was crucial, but they were dissatisfied with the Biden administration's key issues such as voting rights, police reform, and student debt relief, which may undermine Biden's chances of re-election.
Strive for black voters
The Biden campaign team insisted before the primary that they did not take the support of black voters for granted.
Last month, US President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and First Lady Jill Biden all went to South Carolina to canvass votes. The National Committee of the Democratic Party of the United States has also launched an advertising blitz targeting black, rural, and young voters.
In a speech a week before the primaries, Biden mentioned the economic progress made by black voters under his leadership and warned that these advances would be reversed under the leadership of Trump, who is about to receive the Republican nomination.
At present, the Republican Party of the United States has held two primary elections, with former President Trump easily winning in a row. His party's only competitor is former US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Nikki Haley. Based on the current results of the primary elections between the two parties, the final showdown in this year's US election may still be between the elderly Biden and Trump.
A Bloomberg/Corning Consult poll found that Trump leads Biden among voters in seven key swing states, and the election situation in these states will largely determine the final outcome of the November election.