America: It’s Biden v/s Trump, again, in the November 2024 polls
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: As they did four years ago, US President Joe Biden, 81, will face his predecessor Donald Trump, 77, again in the November 2024 presidential election for which their respective parties—Democratic and Republican—renominated them as candidates on Super Tuesday.
The two rivals secured renominations as presidential candidates for the polls, setting up a rematch between them after 2020, the media reported.
Both Biden and Trump, who had already disposed of their primary challengers, secured enough delegates in the key states of Mississippi, Washington, and Georgia to push them over the threshold needed to become their parties’ nominees in the November election.
To choose a presidential nominee, an indirect election or primary is held where voters decide the number of delegates each party convention receives. These delegates, in turn, select the party’s presidential nominee. In primaries, candidates need a majority of delegate votes at the convention to win the party’s presidential nomination.
“Voters now have a choice to make about the future of this country. Are we going to stand up and defend our democracy or let others tear it down? Will we restore the right to choose and protect our freedoms or let extremists take them away?” President Biden was quoted as saying, soon after the win.
Trump is the first former US president to go on trial in a criminal case to hide hush money payments to a porn star and has been juggling court appearances while on the campaign trail. He faces 91 felony counts on four indictments including attempting to overturn the 2020 election. He is also the only American President to be impeached twice.
President Biden’s return to the White House has been obstructed by the majority of voters believing he is, already 81, too old to serve another four-year term. The ongoing crisis at the US-Mexico border, where an influx of migrants has overwhelmed the system, is another weakness for the octogenarian leader. The recent murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley allegedly by an illegal immigrant has also become a flashpoint with the two parties.
After a fiery State of the Union address, the US president hit out at his Republican rival accusing him of threatening democracy. “I will not bow down,” he declared as he vowed to reinstate the Roe v/s Wade ruling to stop the Republicans’ push to restrict abortion rights.
