With election day approaching quickly, the primary elections stand as a good benchmark for determining the true contenders for executive positions. So far, Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire have all held their Primaries, with other states’ results to be finalized between March and May. As far as the Democrats’ choices go, it’s essentially Joe Biden against nobody. The only Democratic candidates who have put up even a minor primary threat have been Minnesota Representative Dean Philips and, to a lesser degree, author Marianne Williamson, who has already dropped out of the race. That said, New Hampshire is the only state where Dean Phillips has made a mark, earning 19.6% of the votes, while Biden crushed him with 63.9%. Even in Nevada, the closest runner-up to Biden’s 89.4% was “None of these Candidates,” with just 5.6% of the vote.
As far as the Republican primaries go, Donald Trump has won each state thus far, though he has faced more competition than Biden. A massive win in Nevada (with 99.1% of the vote) contrasts to Iowa, where results were closer: Trump still won with 51% but faced competition from Ron DeSantis (21.2%), Nikki Haley (19.1%) and, bringing up the rear, Vivek Ramaswamy (7.7%). With DeSantis and Ramaswamy now out of the race, the competition comes down to Haley and Trump, with Haley coming in close behind Trump in New Hampshire, obtaining 43.2% of the vote, while Trump won with 54.3%.
Nevertheless, Donald Trump’s 63 delegates exceed Nikki Haley’s mere 17. Trump seems to be the Republican party’s favored candidate by far, despite the close call in New Hampshire and high-profile court hearings. In general, Republicans have sought a more stalwart conservative leader in reaction to the political moderation of the Biden era. While Nikki Haley may be able to win over more independents, her ideologies don’t seem quite as far right as Trump’s, making him a more appealing candidate to the harder-line Republicans who currently make up most of the party. Therefore, it seems that the result of the Primary elections will set up yet another standoff between incumbent President Joe Biden and Former President Trump who, if Biden’s tanking approval ratings (57% disapproving according to Reuters, and even more from other sources) mean anything, is likely to come out on top. While this may be the case, the general feeling towards the 2024 elections is certainly one of frustration, with seeming reluctant to see another Biden/Trump standoff, dispute it being the most likely outcome.
