Biden wins first primary amid tepid turnout — RT World News
The US President had pushed to have South Carolina hold its first contest for the Democratic nomination
US President Joe Biden easily won the first Democratic primary in South Carolina on Saturday, sweeping the sparsely populated field with more than 95% of the vote.
Biden said, in a statement issued on Saturday, thanking voters in the state for his landslide victory, He added: “I have no doubt that you have put us on the path to winning the presidency again – and making Donald Trump a loser – again.”
About 131,000 people voted in the primary elections, a low participation rate of 4%. Party officials had warned Reuters that they expected between 100,000 and 200,000 total votes this year, a significant decline from 2020, when more than 540,000 Democrats came out to vote in the presidential primary in South Carolina – 16.4% of the party's registered voters.
The Biden campaign pushed to make South Carolina voters the first to cast ballots for the party's presidential nomination. Earlier, the US state of Iowa opened the election season, while New Hampshire followed suit by holding the first primary elections. Republicans vote in the state later this month.
While Biden easily defeated his rivals, Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson, the extremely low voter turnout suggests a lack of enthusiasm about the incumbent's repeated candidacy, as Phillips himself noted in a statement Saturday.
“I congratulate the president on receiving the highest number of votes tonight. But the lack of voter enthusiasm for a Trump-Biden rematch is reflected in every Democratic primary result in this election. He said. “Voters are disappointed because they lack options beyond choosing between a threat to the fabric of the nation and a good man who voters want to pass the baton on.”
Democratic insiders have long warned 'Enthusiasm gap' Surrounding the country's octogenarian supreme leader. Polls have repeatedly indicated that even Democratic voters believe Biden is too old and weak, both mentally and physically, for a second term.
South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, whose endorsement of Biden was hailed by the media establishment as a seal of approval from the black community, was quick to declare his victory as proof that the president had succeeded. “I haven't lost any support among African Americans.” In an interview with CNN.
Biden's approval rating among Black voters has fallen to 42%, according to a recent AP-NORC poll, just over half of what it was when he took office in 2021.
One black voter in South Carolina, interviewed by MSNBC before the primary, blamed the economy, explaining: “We broke up with Biden. “We were not with Trump.”
An NBC poll released Sunday showed Trump with a five-point lead over Biden, mirroring the incumbent president's lead as measured in July by the same pollster.
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