By Joe Ceraulo

For the third straight week, a Tuesday filled with primary elections came up big for former Vice President Joe Biden.

Three states (Arizona, Florida and Illinois) held primary elections on Tuesday, March 17, after Ohio opted to postpone its primary until June 2.

With Ohio, a state that Biden would have presumably won over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in a landslide, postponing its primary, there were questions as to whether Tuesday night’s primaries would be as beneficial for the former VP as expected.

They were.

With about 40 percent of voters in Arizona, and about a third in Florida and Illinois seeking a candidate who first and foremost can unite the nation, Biden seemed to be the easy choice across the board. In fact, his closest win came in Arizona, where he currently leads Vermont’s Independent senator by 12 points with almost 90 percent of the vote in.

It also is evident that in times of crisis and uncertainty, like right now with the current coronavirus pandemic, Biden’s popularity is soaring due to the fact that approximately two thirds of Democrats trust the former VP most in a time of crisis, according to a recent CNN poll.

As the current president and Sanders both take turns attacking Barack Obama’s old running mate, Biden has focused on combating the coronavirus, and his success has been evident over the past few weeks as a result.

With a current delegate lead of 1,201 to 896 over Sanders, it appeared that April 28, the day that New York and five other states were scheduled to hold their primaries, likely would have been the day Biden clinched the necessary 1,991 delegates.

However, due to eight postponements, it seems that unless Sanders drops out of the race, this primary will likely last until June 2.

After those nine states and territories (originally scheduled to be five) vote on June 2, it appears to be inevitable that former Vice President Biden will be taking on President Donald J. Trump in November.

Joe Ceraulo is a student in a Media and Democracy class at St. Bonaventure University.

Categories: Jandoli Institute, Politics, Uncategorized