Today is Super Tuesday, the biggest day of the 2016 primary season when the greatest number of states hold primary elections. More delegates to United States presidential nominating conventions can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day of the primary calendar. Candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their party’s nomination with 13 states and one territory participating.

On 8 November, America is due to elect a successor to Barack Obama, a Democratic president standing down after two terms in office which have seen the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress.

Opinion polls give Mr Trump a lead in the Republican primaries, while Mrs. Clinton is expected to win in the Democrat primaries.



How many states are voting?
Republican race: Eleven states in all will vote. Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia will hold primaries to select the Republican nominee. Meanwhile, Alaska and Minnesota will hold caucuses.

Democratic race: Eleven states in all will vote. Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia will hold primaries to select the Democratic nominee. Meanwhile, Colorado, Minnesota and the US territory of American Samoa will hold a caucus and Democrats abroad will also submit their votes.

Other events: Republican party officials will hold election-related events in Colorado, North Dakota and Wyoming and in the US territories of American Samoa and Guam, but no votes will be cast. Party leaders in those states will eventually assign delegates to candidates with input from party members.

When should we expect to get results?
Most polls close at 1900 or 2000 EST (midnight or 01:00 GMT on Wednesday) and we could start to get results soon after. In Alaska, caucusing goes on until midnight EST (05:00 GMT). Exit polls should give an indication of the winner in each contest.

Here are the closing times for individual states:

7 p.m. EST: Georgia, Vermont, Virginia
8 p.m. EST: Alabama, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee
8:30 p.m. EST: Arkansas
9 p.m. EST: Texas; Colorado and Minnesota caucuses begin
12 a.m. EST: Alaska caucuses; Wyoming caucuses*

How does Super Tuesday work?
Each state handles the voting process differently: some are primaries, which are run by the states; others are caucuses, which are typically put on by the state parties.

How are Super Tuesday delegates awarded?
Super Tuesday could be a pivotal day for frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, depending on the number of delegates they secure. The Republicans on Super Tuesday have an opportunity to win about half of the 1,237 delegates needed to claim the nomination. On the Democratic side, Clinton and Sanders will be battling over more than 800 delegates–about a third of the delegates necessary to win the nomination.

The Republican National Committee decided back in 2014 that all states holding their nominating contests before March 15 must award their delegates to the candidates proportionally, rather than on a winner-take-all basis. This means that, in most states, they’ll either be awarded based on the overall statewide vote or based on who wins in each congressional district. Democrats award all of their delegates (aside from superdelegates) proportionally.

Which candidates are participating?
On the Republican side, the five remaining candidates participating in Super Tuesday are businessman Donald Trump, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will face off against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

What do the polls say about Super Tuesday?
While the polling varies by state, Trump and Clinton both look to be leading in a number of states across the map. For Republicans, Trump looks to be leading in Virginia, Georgia, Oklahoma and Vermont, among others. As for Texas, Cruz leads in some polls while Trump leads in others, so it could be a very close race.

On the Democratic side, Clinton leads in most states that will vote on Super Tuesday: she is up by double digits in Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Arkansas and Alabama, according to recent polling. Sanders leads big in his home state of Vermont; he’s close or slightly ahead of Clinton in Massachusetts and Oklahoma.

What does this mean for the candidates?
A strong Super Tuesday performance–especially in Texas–is absolutely critical for Ted Cruz, who has founded his campaign on the support of conservatives and evangelicals. If Cruz can’t win in Texas, it will cast serious doubt on his viability. The senator has endorsements from several other Texas Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, former Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Cruz also has an army of about 27,000 volunteers in the state.

John Kasich’s campaign has opened offices in some Super Tuesday states, such as Georgia, Virginia and Mississippi, with the primary goal of simply enduring March 1 to make it through to the Michigan primary on March 8. “We’re planting a big flag in Michigan,” Kasich said at a February 19 town hall. In the meantime, his campaign is trying to build up high-pressure expectations for Rubio: “Failure by Senator Rubio to exit the SEC primary without a big delegate lead will spell the effective end of Senator Rubio’s campaign,” his campaign wrote in a memo this week.

On the Democratic side, Super Tuesday could be the day where Clinton is able to cement a large delegate lead over Sanders. Because of her strong support among superdelegates, she’s currently far ahead–but if she wins most of the states that vote on Super Tuesday, she could increase that lead to a point where it would be difficult for Sanders to catch up. If Sanders is able to pull a stronger-than-expected showing, however, that would be a sign the Democratic primary could continue throughout the spring.

Are there any advantages for the candidates?
Once the race moves beyond the first four traditional early states (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada), the race becomes much more nationalized: when a candidate can’t be on the ground in each state to put in significant face time, voters are more likely to base their opinions on what they’re seeing in the headlines and on the airwaves.

A round of major primaries taking place all at once should work to the benefit of a candidate like Trump, who knows how to win over crowds at big, boisterous rallies. His preference for large-scale campaign events will make it easier for him to reach as many Super Tuesday voters as possible.

Clinton, too, has the advantage as the race enters this phase: unlike Sanders, who has acknowledged he is still introducing himself to voters, Clinton has near-universal name ID across the country. She’s also on the air with ads in far more states than Sanders is.

What’s the biggest prize?
Texas is by far the biggest delegate prize on the map, with 155 Republican delegates and 252 total Democratic delegates at stake. That’s why candidates on both sides have spent time there and invested significant resources into the state.

But there are a handful of other states with significant delegate totals that candidates are targeting as well: think Alabama (50 Republican delegates; 60 Democratic delegates), Georgia (76 Republican delegates; 116 Democratic delegates), Tennessee (58 Republican delegates; 76 Democratic delegates) and Virginia (49 Republican delegates; 110 Democratic delegates).

Will this Super Tuesday be the end of the road for anyone?
In the past, Super Tuesday has been known to be decisive. Mitt Romney essentially secured the Republican nomination after his Super Tuesday wins in 2012. This year, the result will not be as clear cut. Because many of the states on 1 March allot delegates proportionally, look for some candidates like Marco Rubio and John Kasich to wait until 15 March when large winner-take-all states such as Florida and Ohio vote. That said, the campaign of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has privately said it is likely to end his run on Super Tuesday. He has underperformed in the first four Republican contests and many insiders have wondered why he has not called it quits already.

On the Democratic side, Mr Sanders – once thought of as a protest candidate to advance the issue of income inequity – is likely to revert to that status and stay in the race even if Mrs Clinton wins big.

What’s next (for the candidates and election 2016)?
For the candidates, Super Tuesday could be a day that makes or breaks campaigns–and if one candidate has a particularly poor showing, there’s a chance the field could narrow in the days that follow.

After Super Tuesday, the race spreads out across the map to a handful of states at a time. Several others vote this Saturday: Kansas and Louisiana have contests for both parties, Kentucky and Maine hold Republican caucuses, and Nebraska holds its Democratic caucuses. Michigan and Mississippi hold primaries and Hawaii and Idaho caucus on March 8. The next big primaries political observers will be keeping a close eye on are Florida and Ohio on March 15, where Marco Rubio and John Kasich could struggle to win their respective home states.

http://www.channel801.com/us-election-2016-all-you-need-to-know-about-super-tuesday/

Good luck to Donald Trump!