Former Vice President Joe Biden could win all six states voting in the Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, according to polling data, as 352 delegates are up for grabs.
This will be the first time states vote since Super Tuesday, when Biden scored a nearly 80 delegate advantage over Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, leading billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren to drop out of the presidential race. (RELATED: Election Dissection: Super Tuesday Takeaways You Won’t See On CNN)
The following states vote Tuesday (ordered most delegates to least delegates): Michigan, Washington, Missouri, Mississippi, Idaho, and North Dakota.
In Michigan, a state with 125 delegates, Biden holds a more than 20 percent lead in recent polling. Sanders upset Hillary Clinton in Michigan during the 2016 presidential primary. Polling experts, such as Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, attribute this potential shift by the Wolverine State to the laser focus within the Democratic party on beating President Donald Trump, rather than campaigning on specific progressive policies.
“The difference between 2016 and 2020 in states like Michigan is that voters have clearly decided that they need a candidate who can beat Trump,” Bowman told the Daily Caller. “Democratic voters now believe that person is Biden. Of course, they wanted to win in 2016, but the lay of the land was entirely different. Given Democrats’ strongly negative feelings about Trump, they want the candidate who is most likely to beat him.” (RELATED: Polls Show Biden Opening Up Double-Digit Leads Over Sanders Nationally And In Michigan)
The heavily blue Washington, which holds 89 delegates, appears to be more of a tossup, as Biden is holding a slight lead. Missouri polling shows mixed results, with Biden holding anywhere from a 4 percent to 30 percent lead.
The only recent polling in Mississippi has Biden holding a whopping 55 percent lead over Sanders. Polling experts attribute this heavy lead to the state’s significant African American population — a factor that has helped propel Biden to a crucial win in South Carolina and other southern states. Biden won the African American vote by a margin of 40 percent on Super Tuesday.
“Although we don’t have a national electorate, African American voters are an extremely important part of the Democratic electorate,” Bowman told the Caller. “And in some states, they are a very substantial presence and will exert significant impact on the outcomes. If Biden continues to do well with African American voters, it will be hard for Sanders to find a path to victory.”
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Idaho and North Dakota have limited polling data, with FiveThirtyEight predicting Biden to win a slight majority of delegates in both states.
A new CNN national poll released Monday shows Biden with a double-digit lead over Sanders. Biden has been endorsed by a number of former Democratic presidential candidates, including former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Bloomberg, California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, and New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker. Warren has yet to endorse a candidate since she dropped out — a decision she teased in her recent appearance on Saturday Night Live.
The next Democratic presidential debate will be held by CNN on March 15, two days before the next wave of primary voting that features Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Arizona. This will be the first debate with only Biden and Sanders. The debate will reportedly feature a new format where both candidates are sitting down and answering questions from an audience — a joint decision by CNN and the Democratic National Committee that the Sanders campaign took issue with, according to Politico. (RELATED: DNC Changes Debate Format — Bernie Staffer Says They’re Protecting Biden)
The debate also has new qualifications that eliminated Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the only other remaining candidate, from competing on the stage. Gabbard has won two delegates.
1,991 pledged delegates are required to win the Democratic nomination. Biden currently has 652 delegates and Sanders has 575.