(CN) — It's almost easy to win a party's presidential nomination in America if you already have "president" on your resume. It’s much less clear what happens when a former president runs against a current president in the general election.
Following more than a dozen Super Tuesday primary elections across the U.S., this is exactly what Americans can expect come November. Although Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump were both opposed on the ballot, neither candidate ever really found himself in hot water during the primaries.
As a sitting president, Biden has unsurprisingly won 99% of the Democratic delegates so far. As a former president, Trump likewise dominates the Republican Party primary, and is likely bolstered by the fact that many GOP voters believe he won against Biden in 2020 and therefore see him as an incumbent.
GOP challenger Nikki Haley suspended her campaign Wednesday with a Vermont win bringing her up to a total of 89 delegates to Trump’s 955.
The Republican Party nomination officially goes to the first candidate to reach 1,215 delegates.
While Trump claimed to have documented "the most successful Super Tuesday in history," his support fell below two-thirds of the vote in liberal Virginia, Massachusetts and Colorado, as well as in Utah, a strong Republican stronghold that is also home to the Mormon church.
“Overall, you're dealing with an incredibly conservative Republican base where the litmus test for how strong of a Republican you are is how pro-Trump you are, and those are the people who turn up in primaries,” said Jared McDonald, assistant professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Biden stands with 1,497 of the 1,969 delegates needed to formalize his nomination. Voters in two states have awarded seven delegates to an "uncommitted" option, while a Baltimore-based businessman made a surprising grab for three delegates in the Pacific.
While the sitting president has handily won every state, he faced his greatest opposition in Minnesota and Oklahoma, where he took home just 70% of Tuesday’s vote. Nearly 20% of voters in the North Star State selected "uncommitted delegate," giving the none-of-the-above option five delegates.
Activists in Michigan last month encouraged voters to choose the “noncommitted delegate” in protest against the U.S. supporting Israel’s siege on Gaza.
“In those states where you saw 10, 15% say they were uncommitted, that really seemed to be voicing a vote of no confidence, largely due to his handling of the Israel-Gaza crisis,” said McDonald. “Does that necessarily mean those people will stay home in the presidential general election? That remains to be seen.”
While campaigns and pundits alike are hunting for weaknesses in the opponent’s armor, many analysts say it’s hard to draw general election conclusions from this primary, especially considering low voter turnout and uncompetitive elections.
Still, a significant base of Democrats did turn out to declare loyalty to Biden.
“I voted for Biden because I think he's doing a great job as president. Is he old? Yes. Does he have his flaws? Yes, but so does every candidate,” said Jason Shubert, a Denver Democrat who walked two blocks to drop off his ballot on Tuesday.
“He's a steady hand at the wheel,” Shubert said. “Under Trump, we just had a lot of erratic behavior, so it's nice having somebody that follows the norms.”
Both the Biden and Trump campaigns are reaching out to displaced Haley voters.
"Today, millions of voters across the country made their voices heard — showing that they are ready to fight back against Donald Trump’s extreme plan to take us backwards,” said Biden on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Every generation of Americans will face a moment when it has to defend democracy. This is our fight."
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