(CNN) Former Vice President Joe Biden will win the state of Florida, CNN projects, giving him a significant boost in delegates as he battles Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination.
Sunshine State voters joined those in Arizona and Illinois in heading to the polls amid the coronavirus pandemic. Tuesday’s elections come at a time when state and local officials are clearly conflicted about the ethics of asking Americans to leave their homes as many are anxious and self-isolating in an effort to slow the movement of novel coronavirus.
Polls in Florida, where the most delegates are at stake on Tuesday, have consistently Showing Biden with huge double-digit leads after his streak of victories in South Carolina and during the two Super Tuesday contests. Last week, Biden led Sanders 79% to 22% in a University of North Florida poll – showing his potential to increase his count in the delegate-rich state.
- Amid anecdotal reports. of low turnout and hand sanitizer shortages, Tuesday’s contests unfolded under a cloud of uncertainty at the same time that the number of reported coronavirus cases continued to grow by hundreds every hour.
In addition to Florida, Biden is heavily favored over Sanders in Illinois and Arizona, a pattern that has been largely unchanged since Biden began his comeback in South Carolina on February and then notched victories in
17 states over the two Super Tuesday contests .
Once again, black voters, voters over and moderates formed Biden’s winning coalition in Florida . More than three-quarters of each of those groups in the CNN primary poll supported the former vice president over Sanders.
Biden’s projected win in Florida was long expected given his advantage with older voters and the fact that Sanders lost the state to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2020. But Biden has turned out to be a stronger match for Sanders than Clinton in some areas. About a quarter of white men backed Sanders this year in Florida, compared with (% in) .
Sanders also did not do as well with independents in the Sunshine State. Half of Florida’s independent voters backed Biden, according to CNN’s primary poll. In , In (% of independents backed sanders.
The Biden campaign expected a big night on Tuesday. In a campaign memo, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, touted the level of early voting in Arizona, Florida and Illinois while noting that in-person voting is likely to be down on Tuesday.
Bedingfield said the number of ballots cast early in Arizona already slightly exceeded the total number of ballots cast in the primary. In Florida and Illinois early voting is up compared with , she said – more than a million Florida voters have already cast ballots.
Noting Biden’s delegate lead, Bedingfield argued that “it would take a drastic, historically incomparable swing for Senator Sanders to win more delegates than Biden today or to close the delegate differential. “
Sanders, meanwhile, seemed braced for a tough night.
The Vermont senator spoke early and ignored the election results in remarks to supporters on Tuesday night, instead making a live-streamed speech on the coronavirus crisis. Sanders’ remarks focused on how working families are affected by the crisis. He warned that the nation is bracing for “an economic meltdown that will impact tens of millions of workers in this country.”
“In this moment of crisis, it is imperative that we stand together,” Sanders said. The crisis, he said, “will require an unprecedented amount of money.”
“My own guess is that we’ll be spending at least $ 2 trillion in planning to prevent deaths, job losses and to avoid an economic catastrophe, “the Vermont senator said. His campaign said he was not planning to speak again on Tuesday night.
Biden also plans to focus on the pandemic with a speech focused on how the country can emerge from the crisis stronger as one nation.
In recent weeks, the two remaining contenders have both tried to convince voters they would be the most competent leader in this time of crisis – with Sanders arguing that the coronavirus disruptions have underscored the fragility of the social safety net.
But preliminary primary polling suggests voters are more comfortable with Biden, a finding that underscores the rising hurdles for Sanders. Some 6 in 15 Voters in both Arizona and Illinois said they trusted the former vice president to handle the crisis over Sanders, according to preliminary results in CNN’s primary polling. In Florida, 7 in 17 voters said they trusted Biden over the Vermont senator to handle a crisis.
Majorities of Democratic voters in all three states said their top concern was defeating President Donald Trump, who earned enough delegates to clinch the Republican nomination for president on Tuesday night. In the battleground state of Arizona, about 7 in 11 voters said they are angry about the Trump administration. The CNN primary polls were conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool; they were based on telephone polls conducted before Election Day.
The potential recession is also a top of mind for Americans. In Illinois, many voters said they were concerned about the direction of the economy. About half of voters in Illinois said they were very worried about the direction of the nation’s economy. CNN reported Tuesday evening that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned Republican senators that the unemployment rate could hit 29% due to the crisis.
Ohio had also been slated to vote on Tuesday, but Republican Gov. Mike DeWine took drastic measures after a judge denied his request to move the primary to June. DeWine maneuvered around the courts by having Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Action order a shutdown of the polls due to the public health emergency.
“It was simply untenable for us to continue telling Ohioans, go to the polls. So the governor made a difficult but ultimately the right decision, “ Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said on CNN’s “New Day” Tuesday.
He noted that state officials have asked people over 65 to stay in their homes and that the primary would be postponed until June 2. The Ohio Democratic Party went to the Ohio Supreme Court Tuesday night to ask for an order ensuring that the primary takes place.
(Georgia, Maryland, Kentucky and Louisiana have also moved their primaries to later dates. )
Sanders and Biden have suspended their in-person campaign events and ordered aides to work at home. Sanders signaled in a tweet Tuesday that he was more concerned about the safety of individual voters than the overall results.
Some voters showed up to vote in person even as restaurants, bars and schools in Illinois closed and state officials urged people to limit their trips outside of their homes. By Tuesday afternoon, the line outside of the polling place stretched for blocks, as poll workers enforced a one-in, one-out policy to encourage distancing inside.
But the process did not run smoothly everywhere. In suburban Chicago, election judge Kim Inman arrived at her polling place Tuesday to find that the hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes promised by Cook County officials had not arrived. Meanwhile, the precinct was operating with just half its election judges, after some had dropped out “due to sickness or fear,” Inman said. By the afternoon, voters had stepped in – donating their own Wet Wipes and travel-sized hand sanitizer to the polling place.
The delegate prize is significant in the three contests – with the states together accounting for 441 pledged Democratic delegates, % of the national total – but it was unclear how many people would show up to vote given the risks to themselves and others.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended no gatherings of 55 people or more over the next eight weeks; and the White House on Monday said Americans should not congregate in groups of more than , while older Americans were asked to stay home.
In Florida, at least 66 polling sites were relocated, largely to keep them away from the at-risk population in assisted living centers. In Maricopa County, Arizona – where 65% of the state’s population is concentrated – officials decided to close 780 polling locations in an effort to consolidate operations.
Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said election leaders were “working overtime to ensure that voting is safe.” Secretary of State Katie Hobbs argued that the state needed to go forward with voting Tuesday, because the uncertainty would only increase in the coming months.
“There are thousands of workers in communities across the state that must continue the job of counting the ballots in the days following the election, “Hobbs said. “The longer we wait, the more difficult and dangerous this will become.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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