Bernie Sanders will probably find all sorts of culprits again this time, the media, the officials of the Democratic Party, string pullers in the background. But after another round of primaries it becomes increasingly clear: Democratic voters do not want the self-declared democratic socialists as presidential candidates, but Joe Biden.
The former vice president won a clear majority of votes in Tuesday in at least three of the six states in which elections were held: Mississippi, Missouri and Michigan – the main state of the election night.
Even if not all of the results were there at first: Biden has significantly extended his lead among the delegates who are decisive for the nomination. He is now the big favorite, and something completely unexpected would have to happen for someone other than him to take on incumbent Donald Trump in the fall.
This could put an end to the democratic election campaign – an end that no one had expected two weeks ago.
In his speech on election night, Biden almost pretended to be the party’s official presidential candidate. He held out his hand demonstratively to Sanders and his followers, thanking them for their “energy and passion” and saying: “We have a common goal: to defeat Trump.” Sanders, on the other hand, decided not to go to the media on election night, which was rather unusual.
Like a week ago on Super Tuesday, Biden was once again able to count on the overwhelming support from the black voters. In Mississippi, post-election surveys indicate that 86 percent of African Americans vote for Barack Obama’s former deputy. However, as the Michigan case shows, Biden also won a majority in most other voters. Above all, he won in the suburbs, which have proven to be a large reservoir of voters for the Democrats since Trump’s election.
In Michigan, Sanders had a surprising victory over Hillary Clinton four years ago. In the past few days he had focused his entire campaign on the rust belt state. But this time he was nowhere near able to repeat his 2016 result, and again missed his goal of flocking young people and non-voters to the poll.
Andrew Yang gave a pretty good insight into the mood among the Democrats on election night. The entrepreneur and former presidential candidate had sought people similar to Sanders until he retired from the race a few weeks ago: young and independent voters who want major reforms and are rather skeptical of the Democratic Party.
But when the results from the states arrived on Tuesday, Yang sat in the CNN studio and made a recommendation for Biden. Mathematically, the candidacy can hardly be taken from Biden, so it is now important to stand behind him: “We have to bring the party together.” That was an appeal to Sanders’ supporters, who can’t do much with Biden’s candidacy.
The democratic infantry don’t want an uprising from the left
Yang became the eleventh former rival of Biden, who has now expressed his support. Already at the weekend, the retired applicants Kamala Harris and Cory Booker recommended Biden to the election and also campaigned with him.
The fact that these signs are so readily heard by leading Democrats from the grass roots suggests that the democratic infantry are not in the mood for an uprising from the left, as Sanders demands. And it has no desire to extend the sometimes poisonous wing fight much longer. Instead, the basis seems to have come to the conclusion that Biden is the candidate who is most likely to beat Trump – and that’s the most important criterion for most Democrats.
The pressure on Sanders to end his campaign soon should therefore increase in the coming days. The 78-year-old could still collect enough delegates on paper to overtake Biden. But he would have to win with very large margins in the coming primaries. There is little evidence for this. Many of the states that vote next have a high proportion of black voters who form the backbone of Biden’s coalition. In other pending countries, Sanders had lost very clearly against Clinton in 2016.
Tuesday was not just the day that Biden became a likely Democratic candidate. It was also the day when the corona virus hit the presidential campaign with full force. Both Sanders and Biden had to cancel appearances in front of the thousands of supporters they had planned for the Ohio State election night. Post-election surveys also showed that the corona virus was also an important issue for voters – and that growing concerns may benefit Biden.
A majority of the Democrats are most likely to trust the former vice president to deal with a severe crisis. On election night, Biden said about dealing with the corona virus: “We need leadership that is honest, trustworthy, truthful and reliable.” And he also sounded like it was only against Trump now.
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