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Voters walk into a polling station during the Virginia primary in Arlington, Virginia, the United States, March 3, 2020. /Xinhua
**Editor's note: **Sun Chenghao is an assistant research professorat the Institute of American Studies, under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations based in Beijing. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
This year's
Democratic primaries
are so crowded, a stark contrast to the primaries in 2016 when the Democratic Party had only a total of six candidates in the primariesfour years ago. After Hillary Clinton's difficult win in the Iowa caucus, the only challenger in the party was Bernie Sanders. Although Sanders won New Hampshire, Clinton's performance thereafter basically left her the nomination ofthe party with little uncertainties.
Inspired by the "anti-Trump"wave, over two dozen people in the Democratic camp participatedin the election campaign, of which 18 people withdrew or suspended their elections before the primaries began.
Itseems to reflect therising moralein Democrats, but it actually costs the partywhen it takes more time for Democrats to nominatea suitable candidatewho can challenge Trump. The internal fightsbetween moderates and radicals not only consumes political resources within the party, but also gave Trump more time to frame his campaign strategy.
This is clearly reflected in the role of this year's Super Tuesday. Startedin the 1980s, primary elections were held in a large number of states on so called Super Tuesday in order to quickly select the viable candidate for the partyso as to reduce internal frictionsand finally defeat the opposite candidate.
Since the number of states participating in Super Tuesday varies in each election year, this year's Super Tuesday is extremelyimportant in the Democratic primaries. In terms of number, 14 states hold primaries awarding 1357 delegates, about a third of all delegates, while a total of 1991 delegates need to be won by the candidateto be nominated.
This Super Tuesday also played a role in further filteringcandidates. Although fourstates have taken the lead in holding the primaries before this time, only 155 delegates have been awardedin total. The symbolic significance is far greater than the actual numerical significance, and it has failed to effectively screen several promisingplayersbefore Super Tuesday.
Voters line up to cast ballots at a polling station in Los Angeles, California, the United States, March 3, 2020. /Xinhua
Moderates in the Democrats also see Super Tuesday as a key battle for fighting against the liberal front-runner Sanders. Buttigieg and Klobuchar announced their endorsementfor Biden, hoping to boost him against Sanders on the eve of Super Tuesday.
Their endorsementproves that they have no confidence in Sanders challenging Trump on behalf of the Democratic Party and suspect that the liberal and progressive policywill not win broad support in the Midwest battlefield.
The significance of this year's Super Tuesday is not only aboutthe election results, but that the series of primaries should wake up the Democrats. To defeat Trump in November, the party needs to form a wider coalitionas soon as possible, without preoccupied with the disputes betweenmoderates and radicals.
Since no one would easily get the majority of the pledged delegates needed to clinch the nomination of the first ballot after Super Tuesday, itprovesthat voters are still fragmentedandthe leading figure of the Democratic Party are stillnot there.
There is clear generation gap between supporters of Sanders and Biden while older voters are flocking to Biden in numerous states. However, many voters made last-minute decisions and are unsure whether they made the right choice after voting.
Another bad news for Democrats is that President Trump is winning all of the Republican primaries and has a strong party endorsement behind him after his acquittal. Sanders has more grass roots support while Biden was galvanizing moderates support in the party.
It seems that voters are not sure who is more likely to beat Trump, but time is limited and the Democrats needs to
make a decision
before it is too late.
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