Joe Biden's big Super Tuesday wins are likely helped by voters who decided last minute, polls suggest

It looks like the recent spurt of #Joementum might have carried the former vice president to a win in several Super Tuesday states.

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تاریخ: ۱۴ اسفند ۱۳۹۸ - ۰۹:۳۳

After disappointing finishes in the early contests, Biden has won in Virginia and Decision Desk HQ projects Biden victories in Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Massachusetts. Biden's performance on Tuesday night is a major rebound for a candidate who had performed poorly in the early contests of Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.

Voters who decided within the last few days — after Biden won the South Carolina primary on Saturday and his main moderate rivals dropped out to endorse him — broke for the vice president in several states, Washington Post exit polls show. Biden was the biggest beneficiary of the late deciders in many states, including some where frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders was the candidate of choice for those who decided earlier.

Overall, the exit poll found, a median of 46% of Super Tuesday voters who decided within the last few days chose Biden, compared with just 19% who chose Sanders, and 13% who picked Bloomberg. Exit polls showed that a majority of voters valued electability.

For those that decided earlier than a few days ago, a median actually chose Sanders over the others: Sanders received 36% of support, compared to 29% to Biden.

The exit polling indicates that late deciding voters were swayed by Joe Biden's comeback in South Carolina, and potentially by the series of high profile endorsements from Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and several top aides to Barack Obama.

And in several states, that pattern continued on Tuesday night.

In Minnesota, Klobuchar's home state, 55% of voters made up their mind in the last few days. And 53% of those voters chose Biden. Only 19% of them supported Sandres.

But 45% of Minnesota voters had made up their minds earlier than that, and 45% of those voters supported Sanders. Only 24% of voters who made up their minds earlier supported Biden.

—Theo Keith (@TheoKeith) March 4, 2020

In Virginia, which delivered Biden a swift victory almost immediately after polls closed, 60% of voters who decided within the last few days chose Biden, while only 17% of those voters supported Sanders, exit polling showed.

For comparison with Virginia voters who had made up their mind before the last few days, 51% chose Biden and 29% supported Sanders.

In Tennessee, where just over a quarter of voters made up their mind at the last minute, 58% of those late deciders went for Biden compared with 15% for Sanders. Biden's support wasn't as strong among Tennessee voters who made up their minds earlier, receiving just 31% of their support compared to Sanders' 27%.

Sanders was not without his victories on Super Tuesday. So far, he has won his home state of Vermont, as well as Colorado and Utah.