Super Tuesday
Super Tuesday is a significant day in the U.S. presidential primary election cycle, occurring early in the season when multiple states hold their primaries or caucuses simultaneously. The number of participating states varies by election year, but this day is crucial for determining the leading candidates in each party's nomination process. Candidates who perform well on Super Tuesday are often perceived as having broad national appeal and may secure a substantial number of delegates essential for their party's nomination.
Introduced in the late 1980s, Super Tuesday was originally conceived to bolster the chances of Southern Democratic candidates but has since evolved to serve as a broader indicator of candidate strength across the nation. Candidates must navigate the complex nominating process, where winning delegates in each state is vital for securing their party's nomination at the summer conventions. The significance of Super Tuesday lies in its ability to impact candidates' momentum; a strong performance can solidify a frontrunner's status, while a poor showing can devastate struggling campaigns. As such, Super Tuesday remains a pivotal moment in the American political landscape, providing insight into the electoral dynamics and shaping the course of presidential elections.
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Super Tuesday
Super Tuesday is a Tuesday in the early part of the US presidential primary election season when the highest number of states vote to nominate presidential candidates. The exact number of voting states on a given Super Tuesday varies by election year. In the past, the day has been useful for determining which candidates will likely become the frontrunners for their respective party's nomination to seek the presidency in the general election. This is because candidates who win the most states on Super Tuesday are generally seen as having the broadest national appeal.
Super Tuesday tests candidates' viability as potential party nominees because it forces them to temporarily abandon the practice of campaigning to individual voters and instead develop the kind of national strategy they would need to win the general election. Winning the most states on Super Tuesday can be challenging to all but the most robust political campaigns, as it requires spending millions of dollars on advertising and physically traveling to all the voting states in a short time. Many Super Tuesday winners go on to become the presidential nominees of their parties.
Background
Super Tuesday did not truly become a political concept until the late 1980s. However, several political contests that resembled the future Super Tuesday were held in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Six primaries occurred on Tuesday, May 25, 1976. Seven primaries and caucuses were staged on March 11, 1980. Caucuses are similar to primaries, but they involve open meetings in which registered party members publicly express their candidate preferences. At that time, several days of the primary process were reserved for groups of states to hold primaries or caucuses, some in late winter and others in spring.
Southern Democrats conceived of the actual Super Tuesday voting day ahead of the 1988 presidential election. By that point, Democrats had held the presidency for just four of the previous twenty years (this had been during President Jimmy Carter's administration from 1977 to 1981). Southern Democrats were particularly frustrated with their recent political fortunes. Democrats in many non-Southern states voted much earlier than Southern Democrats. This allowed the Democratic Party in the North and West, for example, to choose candidates who inevitably went on to lose the South, where the Republican Party held great influence, in general elections.
In the late 1980s, Southern Democrats concluded that if numerous Southern states held primaries on a single day early in primary season, they could help a Southern Democratic presidential candidate secure enough early support to earn the party's nomination and then win the general election by taking the South. Super Tuesday became the Democrats' conduit to execute this plan.
The first official Super Tuesday was held on March 8, 1988. Twenty-one states, a majority of them Southern, held primaries or caucuses that day. However, the Southern Democrats' original strategy for the day failed miserably. Democratic voters in the South ultimately split their votes between Senator Al Gore of Tennessee and Reverend Jesse Jackson of South Carolina. This cleared the way for Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts to score wins in Florida and Texas. His victories in the North and other regions of the country helped him become the Democratic Party's nominee for president. However, incumbent Republican vice president George H.W. Bush defeated Dukakis in the 1988 general election.
It was another four years before a Southern Democratic candidate actually benefited from the initial intention of Super Tuesday. On March 10, 1992, Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas handily won five Southern states in that year's Super Tuesday contests. A few of these successes helped carry Clinton to his triumph over Bush in the 1992 general election.
Overview
Super Tuesday continued as an institution of US presidential elections into the twenty-first century, though over time the day came to focus less on nominating Southern Democrats and more on simply providing an early indication of which candidate from each party was strongest. Super Tuesday is considered a fairly accurate method of determining candidate strength because sweeping the day's primaries and caucuses—winning all or most of the states—signals that a candidate is not only running a proficient, well-funded campaign but also communicating messages that resonate with voters. These skills are necessary to win often grueling general elections.
The United States' nominating process requires candidates to win state primaries and caucuses. The process dictates that presidential candidates must secure a majority of party delegates at their respective party's nominating conventions. These are held the summers before November general elections. Candidates who win a state are awarded that state's delegates.
Political parties use several criteria to assign numbers of delegates to states. The Democratic Party divides delegates among the states based on how those states voted in the three previous presidential elections. The Republican Party assigns ten delegates to each of the fifty states and then adds three more for each US congressional district in the state. The party awards states even more delegates based on how those states voted for Republicans in the recent past. These rules mean that a state's amount of delegates can change slightly from election to election. In any case, candidates view Super Tuesday as a prime opportunity to score a large amount of delegates in a single day.
In the 2016 presidential election, Democratic candidates needed to win 2,382 out of 4,763 delegates to win the party's nomination. Republican candidates needed 1,237 out of 2,472 delegates. Each party awards delegates to its candidates differently. Democratic candidates win proportional amounts of delegates, meaning they secure whatever percentage of a state's delegates they actually won. Republicans follow this practice in some states. Other states feature winner-take-all systems in which the candidate who won the most primary or caucus votes earns all the state's delegates. In still other states, the Republican Party combines the proportional and winner-take-all systems.
While Super Tuesday can prove highly fortuitous for frontrunner candidates, the day can spell disaster for candidates who may already be struggling in the polls. This is because many Americans view the winners of Super Tuesday as probable party nominees. Consequently, many voters in later primaries may believe that a vote for any candidate other than the Super Tuesday winner will be wasted.
Furthermore, successfully campaigning in all Super Tuesday states ahead of the day itself requires healthy campaign funds, which some candidates might not have. Therefore, the plain intensity of the lead-up to Super Tuesday can overwhelm modest campaigns, leaving the already popular candidates with the wealthiest campaigns to win the day.
Bibliography
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