Outcome of Biden-Trump electoral battle has serious geopolitical implications
President Joe Biden and former President donald trump both clinched their parties’ nomination on tuesday, kicking off the first US presidential election rematch in nearly 70 years. Biden needed 1,968 delegates to win the nomination, a number Edison Research said he passed on tuesday night as results began to come in from the primary contest in Georgia, ahead of expected results from Mississippi, Washington state, the Northern Mariana Islands and Democrats living abroad.Trump clinched the 1,215 delegates required to secure the Republican presidential nomination as four states held contests, including Georgia, the battleground where trump data-faces criminal charges for his efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 results. There were 161 delegates at stake on tuesday in Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington state.Biden has been dogged by the perception among a majority of voters that he is too old to serve a second four-year term, though allies believe his fiery State of the Union address may serve to counter that notion. The ongoing crisis at the US-Mexico data-border, where an influx of migrants has overwhelmed the system, is another weakness for Biden. He has sought to transfer the blame to trump after the former president urged congressional Republicans to kill a bipartisan data-border security bill that would have stepped up enforcement. The economy, as always, will be a central campaign issue. Polls show Americans are unwilling to credit the president and are frustrated about the high prices of items like food.