Super Tuesday results: Trump and Biden projected to win several state primaries

BBC News:

President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are projected to win all of their party contests called so far, as ballot-counting continues on the key US election day Super Tuesday.

Mr Trump is hoping for a dominant clean sweep of the 15 states and one US territory that have cast votes for their preferred Republican candidate.

That would leave him on the cusp of sealing the party’s nomination.

Mr Biden, meanwhile, has no serious challengers on the Democratic side.

As of 21:30 EST (02:30 GMT) on Tuesday, Mr Trump was projected to win contests in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS.

Mr Biden was projected to win the same states plus Utah and Vermont. He also won the Iowa caucus, which announced its results on Tuesday.

The Republican race in Vermont remains neck-and-neck between Mr Trump and his last remaining Republican challenger, Nikki Haley.

It is all but certain that the presidential election in November will be a rematch of the 2020 contest between the pair.

But analysts are viewing the Super Tuesday’s primaries as a test of Mr Biden and Mr Trump’s support in different states and among different groups. Exit polls are also giving an indication of the key issues on voters’ minds.

As Mr Trump continued to rack up victories on Tuesday, exit polls by CBS News showed immigration and the economy were essential issues for Republicans in two key states – North Carolina and Virginia.

Both have been consistent issues raised by voters throughout the campaign.

The polls also showed that the most Republicans in those states believed Mr Trump’s false claim that Mr Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 election.