Baghdad-INA
US President Joe Biden achieved an easy and unsurprising victory in the Democratic Party primary elections in the state of South Carolina, according to predictions broadcast by American television channels, in an electoral test that is his first in his quest to win a second presidential term.
Biden is counting on a large base of black voters in this conservative state in the southern United States, and he achieved a victory with a very large majority in these primary elections against two other candidates, based on expectations.
Biden was in California on Saturday evening before heading to Nevada (west) in preparation for the upcoming vote on Tuesday, and he expressed his confidence that he would defeat his potential Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, in November.
Biden said in a statement, “In 2024, the people of South Carolina have spoken again, and I have no doubt that you have put us on the path to winning the presidency again and losing Donald Trump again.”
Biden’s campaign for the presidency in 2020 has gained momentum in this southern state, and he is counting on similar momentum for the next election, which he is likely to run again against Trump.
Turnout appeared weak in voting centers visited by Agence France-Presse in the city of Charleston, with many considering Biden’s victory in South Carolina a foregone conclusion.
As she left a polling station held at a high school in Charleston, Jane Douglas, 69, jokingly asked about the identity of Biden’s competitors, and said, “I didn’t even look.”
In the primary elections, in which polling stations opened at seven in the morning and closed at seven in the evening (12:00 GMT to 00:00 GMT), the 81-year-old Democratic President faced two opponents: Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips and writer Marianne Williamson.
Many voters mostly expressed their satisfaction with Biden’s record, but they acknowledged the lack of enthusiasm for a second presidential term for him, stressing in return that they do not want Trump to return to the presidency.
“It is the lesser of two evils,” Noelle Paris, 62, said, explaining, “Let’s say I am not against Biden, but there are other people who should have been nominated.”
2024-02-06 04:59:42