Biden’s Super Tuesday Surge Unites Moderates

In the midst of presidential primary season, the Democratic Party is making the vital choice of whether to elect a liberal or more moderate Democratic candidate to run in the presidential elections. The recent Super Tuesday — the first nationalized day of voting in the Democratic nomination contest where a third of the delegates are won, including the delegates from the large states, California and Texas, and important general-election swing states — results make it a two person race between moderate Joe Biden and liberal Bernie Sanders.

Democratic candidates Senator Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg recently withdrew from the race to be the Democratic nominee. Importantly, they both endorsed their former campaign rival, Biden, the day before Super Tuesday. Klobuchar and Buttigieg were aiming to unite the moderate wing of the Democratic party in support of Biden, specifically in hopes of giving Biden the best chance against the liberal front-runner, Sanders.

Now, the biggest question: were Klobuchar and Buttigieg’s efforts successful? The Super Tuesday results suggest so. Just looking at the votes before the two withdrew from the race, Bernie was looking to prevail with 36% of the votes. However, the surge of late votes after Klobuchar and Buttigieg’s removal propelled Biden into a significant lead after Super Tuesday — Biden winning 433 delegates and Sanders with 388.

Now, Sanders’ supporters may be immensely disappointed with this unexpected comeback by Biden, the Joementum as Twitter has dubbed it. Especially amidst the university atmosphere, with 61% of Sanders’ votes came from voters 18-29 versus only 17% of Biden’s, the dismay is evident. Yet, with the majority of the support for Sanders coming from the younger generation, how could Sanders be expected to prevail? We don’t vote. Young people have the lowest voting turnout rate of all age groups. Around the St. Lawrence campus, it is rare to find a student who actually voted in this vital primary election.

Excuses about the difficulty of absentee ballots are a common justification for the lack of voting; so, yes, maybe America’s difficult voting system is to blame, but change cannot happen without overcoming hurdles along the way. Yes, the system is flawed, but one cannot advocate for change and then give up when inconvenience thwarts an easy path.

Many also discount the value of a vote, believing their singular vote could not make a difference. However, these primaries were the perfect example of how our votes could have changed the course of history. If every young Sanders fan had voted for him, the Super Tuesday results would likely look much different. Every vote is essential.

Looking forward, there are still two-thirds of the delegates available. If you have the right to vote, you should vote. So many people across the globe do not have this right, and we, as the rising generation of the United States, are taking it for granted, gladly letting our voices be lost and letting the future of our nation be decided without us. So, please, bug your parents, get a ballot, vote.

Now, if the Joementum continues and the primaries result in Biden becoming the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, the united support from Klobuchar and Buttigieg indicates that Biden becoming the Democratic candidate may still be a success for the Democratic party as a whole.