Super Tuesday primaries 2024: Trump and Biden dominate, Haley drops out

538 tracked how Trump and Haley did, plus key U.S. House and Senate races.

March 5 was Super Tuesday — the biggest election day of the year until the one in November! With former President Donald Trump projected to win 14 of the day's 15 GOP presidential nominating contests, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced Wednesday morning that she is suspending her campaign.

It was also the first downballot primary day of 2024, with important contests for Senate, House and governor in states like Alabama, California, North Carolina and Texas.

538 reporters, analysts and contributors broke down the election results as they came in with live updates, analysis and commentary. Read our full live blog below.


0

How will military towns break?

With results coming in from Virginia, I'm keeping an eye on the Commonwealth's southeastern corner. Not only is it home to Virginia Beach, the largest city in Virginia, it's also home to a substantial number of military families. In 2020 at least, donations from those serving in the U.S. military split more evenly between Democrats and Republicans than some might expect. So far, Trump is winning Virginia Beach by roughly a 2 to 1 margin, while Haley is keeping it closer in neighboring Norfolk with 42 percent of the vote so far.

—Dan Hopkins, 538 contributor


The Maine Event

ABC News projects that Trump will win the GOP primary in Maine. With about 8 percent of the expected vote counted, he leads Haley, 69 percent to 22 percent.

—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections


But since we're talking about the general ...

Folks who are reading a 538 live blog have probably seen the general election polling showing Trump leading nationally by 2-3 percentage points and leading in the battleground state by more like 3-5 points. That is the answer you are looking for if you want to understand the current state of the races. Emphasis on current, meaning 8 months before the actual election when polls are historically not predictive. Now, there may be caveats about polls shifting less than usual over the coming months because Trump and Biden are already so well defined. But that's a theory, not a fact.

One dynamic in the primary that I do think is worth thinking about in understanding whether those numbers will shift or how, is where the challenge is coming from in both parties. Trump is being challenged by someone who is ideologically closer to Biden than to his Right flank. Biden's most enthusiastic opposition is coming from his left flank, aka not ideologically anywhere close to Trump. Folks always have the option of staying home or voting third party, but if I was Trump's campaign I would not like that dynamic ... particularly given that Biden's victory in 2020 came from an overperformance among independent/moderate voters.

Look at me, doing the thing I just said we shouldn't do.

—Galen Druke, 538


It looks like Trump and Haley are neck and neck in Vermont right now

With 28 percent of the expected vote reported, the Republican presidential primary in Vermont looks so close. Right now, Trump and Haley are tied with 48 percent.

—Monica Potts, 538


Haley’s favorability ratings in Super Tuesday states aren’t encouraging for her

While we don’t have data for every Super Tuesday state, in the ones we do, Haley’s favorability lags far behind Trump’s among Republican voters. In Texas, an early February poll from YouGov/The University of Texas shows GOP voters there have a particularly dim view of Haley; the survey shows Haley 4 percentage points underwater among Republicans, with a 36 percent favorability rating and a 40 percent unfavorability rating, while Trump is has a massive positive net approval rating of 71 percent (83 percent favorable and just 12 percent unfavorable).

While not quite as dismal as in Texas, Haley’s numbers in other Super Tuesday states lag far behind Trump’s. For example, a Morning Consult/Bloomberg poll from mid-February in North Carolina has Haley at net +18 percent favorability (52 percent favorable, 34 percent unfavorable) among registered Republicans, compared to net +64 percent favorability for Trump (81 percent favorable, 17 percent unfavorable). An early February poll in Maine from Pan Atlantic Research shows Haley at net favorability +15 percent favorable (50 to 35 percent), compared to Trump’s net +52 percent favorability rating (76 to 24 percent).

In Vermont, polls suggest Haley might perform a little better than in other states, but her favorability is underwater, according to an early January survey from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. That survey had Trump with a lower favorable rating than he enjoys in other states, net +20 points (57 to 37 percent), but Haley had a net favorability of -9 points among likely primary voters: 32 percent favorable and 41 percent unfavorable.

—Mary Radcliffe, 538