From Le Figaro with AFP
Published 1 hour ago, updated 1 hour ago
Donald Trump at a meeting in Virginia on March 2nd. Jay Paul / Portal
The Republican billionaire defeated his rival Nikki Haley, particularly in Missouri. He is moving a little closer to being nominated for the presidential election in November.
According to media reports, Donald Trump won the Republican Party's internal elections in the three new US states of Missouri, Michigan and Idaho on Saturday, bringing him a step closer to the nomination for the presidential election in November. According to the New York Times, the Republican billionaire defeated his rival Nikki Haley in Missouri by winning every caucus held in the state. In Michigan, Trump won the 39 elected delegates in a caucus attended by around 2,000 activists, CNN reported. Earlier in the week, the former president had already won Michigan's remaining 16 delegates, selected in a primary.
With 84.9% of the vote, Donald Trump also gathered 32 delegates from the state of Idaho, according to the New York Times. The votes held in these three states were hybrid internal elections with different rules, in some cases reflecting discord and tension despite the influence of Donald Trump.
Vulnerabilities uncovered
The former president has won every primary election so far. His new victories on Saturday come three days before Super Tuesday on March 5, a crucial meeting in which 15 states organize their Democratic and Republican primaries simultaneously. Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump are almost guaranteed to be nominated by their respective parties. But these electoral successes have also exposed any weaknesses in the former president that could complicate his recapture of the White House.
The tempestuous septuagenarian won all of his elections thanks to the support of his support base, a sea of Make America Great Again redcaps who are still fiercely loyal. But he has also often suffered significant vote losses among moderate Republicans and independents – votes that are essential if he wants to prevail against Democratic President Joe Biden in November.
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In both New Hampshire and South Carolina, those voters largely preferred Nikki Haley, the last Republican in the race who stood in her way. The fifty-year-old, a former American ambassador to the UN under Donald Trump, cultivates the image of a more moderate candidate who promises to restore some “normality” among conservatives.
However, according to a poll taken in South Carolina last Saturday, 40% of his supporters said they opposed Donald Trump's candidacy. “A big wake-up call,” said Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former president’s former communications director, while he was at the White House. “Someone who is essentially running as an incumbent — Donald Trump — gets 60 percent of the vote and 40 percent are against him? “It’s not exactly a coronation,” she said during an exchange on CNN.