Joe Biden super PAC says Democratic primary is essentially 'over'

A pro-Joe Biden super PAC declared the Democratic primary essentially ‘over’ after Tuesday's primaries. In a memo to supporters released on Wednesday, Unite the Country announced it had secured huge donations and commitments since the former vice president won South Carolina and started racking up wins in primaries across the country.

“Last night's results made one thing clear: the functional primary phase of this election is over,” the memo said. “With last night’s wins, and states like Florida, Illinois, and Ohio that will vote on March 17, Joe Biden’s delegate lead over Bernie Sanders will be equal to, and possibly even higher than, Hillary Clinton's at the same stage of the election.” The group said it has raised nearly $10 million in the past 10 days and had three times that much committed. It said it would keep working to ensure that Biden accrues a majority of all pledged delegates to the nominating convention.

Bernie Sanders’s brand of democratic socialism is hurting him among Florida Latinos, who favour Joe Biden in the March 17 primary by double digits in a recent poll. But even if Sanders were to win the nomination, he might lose these voters to Donald Trump, according to a Telemundo survey conducted by Mason-Dixon.

In the poll, 48 per cent of Latinos in Florida backed Biden, while only 37 per cent supported Sanders in the primary. In a Trump-Sanders contest, 45 per cent said they would vote for Trump and 44 per cent said they would back Sanders. By comparison, in a Trump-Biden contest, 58 per cent said they would back Biden and 38 per cent said they would vote for Trump.

Sanders has done well among Latino voters in other states, but Florida immigrants who fled Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba tend to view socialism negatively, according to Democratic analysts there.