President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump won overwhelming victories in state primaries on Tuesday, as a small but significant protest voice continued to prevail against each candidate in both parties.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, who have already secured their nominations, enjoyed excellent leads in the primaries in Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, with elections in each state being held shortly after polls closed.
Mr. Trump had at least 75 percent of the vote in all states as of 11 p.m., but Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race early last month, still received at least 10 percent of the vote in all four states, a sign of ongoing discontent the Republican Party with the candidacy of Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump was weakest in Connecticut, where he received less than 78 percent of the vote, while Ms. Haley received about 14 percent.
Mr. Biden had at least 80 percent of the vote in each primary as of 11 p.m. Activists called for protest voting in the primary to express their disapproval of Mr. Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza, and the “non-binding” ballot range was between 8 and 15 percent of the vote in states where it was possible. In Rhode Island, 14.9 percent of voters chose the “non-binding” ballot option, or 3,750 votes, with Democratic turnout about a quarter of what it was in 2020.
There are no write-in options in New York, so organizers of the “non-binding” initiative urged voters in the Democratic primary to leave their ballots blank instead. Blank ballots are not reported in the early, unofficial results of the primary, which showed Mr. Biden with more than 90 percent of the votes counted.
In the Republican primary in New York, Mr. Trump had over 80 percent of the vote, while Ms. Haley received 13 percent and Chris Christie, a former New Jersey governor, received more than 4 percent of the vote. He dropped out of the race in January.
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2024-04-03 03:30:53
www.nytimes.com
