Romain Fonsegrives – Agence France-Presse, Moises Avila – Agence France-Presse, Camille Camdessus – Agence France-Presse in Washington, Houston and Huntington Beach
6:33 p.m.
- United States
Millions of Americans are voting on Tuesday on “Super Tuesday”, a major election day during which Donald Trump wants to be enthroned as the undisputed champion of the Republicans, definitively dismiss his rival Nikki Haley and devote himself to his duel with Joe Biden.
The suspense is not there, however, as the septuagenarian Republican and the octogenarian Democrat are almost going it alone, each in their party, for this primary process.
Polls are taking place in 15 states, from Maine to California, from Texas to Virginia and from Alaska to Alabama.
In front of a polling station installed at the municipal library of Huntington Beach, a conservative bastion of California, most of the Republican voters encountered by AFP support Donald Trump, 77 years old.
Many do not see the need to continue the primaries after this Tuesday when Nikki Haley, 52, seems destined for defeat, according to the polls. Ms. Haley is a “lost cause,” says Andrew Pugel, a 57-year-old physics engineer. “Overall it’s her last day” as a candidate, he predicts.
On the Democratic side, Joe Biden, 81, is running for re-election and faces no serious opposition.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift, whose potential influence on young American voters is under intense scrutiny ahead of the next presidential election, called on her fans to vote on “Super Tuesday,” without giving any partisan instructions.
Deaf ear
Since January 15 and despite his legal troubles, Donald Trump, 77, has won almost all the primaries organized by his party.
“I think Trump will win nationally anyway,” said Richard Peterson, 72, in Quincy, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, before voting in favor of the Republican tribune.< /p>
Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the UN, poses herself as the answer to Republican Party voters who want to restore “normality” in the face of “Trump’s chaos”.
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“I can’t in conscience vote again” for the real estate mogul, says Sarah, 64, explaining that she chose Donald Trump in the past. Ms. Haley, 52, she says is “the right person to unite us.”
But most Republican voters turned a deaf ear to the fifty-year-old's plea. Jason Miller, advisor to the former businessman turned president, said he expected “victories, lots of victories” on Tuesday evening.
Will Haley hang on ?
Apart from a symbolic victory on Sunday evening in the capital Washington, Nikki Haley has had a series of crushing defeats, including in the state where she was governor, South Carolina.
Will she stay in the race if the bad news continues ?
Pressed on the question, the main interested party remains vague. “We’re going to continue through Super Tuesday,” she told reporters in late February. “I didn’t think any further when it came to strategy. »
The primaries can in theory stretch until July. But Donald Trump's team predicts a victory “on March 19” at the latest, after votes notably in Georgia and Florida.
Biden faces the Americans Thursday
The billionaire wants to be able to focus on his return match with President Biden as soon as possible, before being sucked into his legal troubles. His first criminal trial begins March 25, in New York.
Joe Biden is on the verge of running for re-election.
He is attacked on his age but Charles Reid Sales, 93 years old, doesn't care. “I didn’t expect to vote today but I did,” he says in Houston, Texas. “Biden ? He’ll never be too old! “.
The candidacies of two Democrats launched in pursuit, the elected representative of Minnesota Dean Phillips and the best-selling author Marianne Williamson, never really aroused enthusiasm, despite recurring criticism of the age of the president or his support for Israel.
Tuesday's elections are therefore at most a formality for Joe Biden. The leader will, however, defend his record and unfold his vision for America on Thursday during a major general policy speech to Congress, the traditional “State of the Union”.
Struggling in the polls, the outgoing president “must use this last opportunity to address millions of Americans to present the contrast between his vision and what life will be like under Donald Trump” , says political scientist Wendy Schiller.