Speaker 1: Already and this is this is the.
Speaker 2: Daily This is the Daily ohs oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome to the Daily ODS. It's Thursday,
Speaker 1: the seventh of March. I'm Zara, I'm emma.
Speaker 2: I'm the editor of the Daily ODS.
Speaker 1: This week, millions of people in the US voted in
Speaker 1: their state's primary elections in a day known as Super Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Super Tuesday is here. Today. People in more than a
Speaker 1: dozen states will vote in the largest single day voting
Speaker 1: event of the primary season.
Speaker 3: They call it Super Tuesday for a reason.
Speaker 2: Super Tuesday is one of the most important days in
Speaker 2: the US presidential election cycle. But as anyone listening might
Speaker 2: have worked out, the electoral system in the US is
Speaker 2: pretty different to how things work here in Australia. So
Speaker 2: we're going to take you through Super Tuesday, how it
Speaker 2: all works, and what this sweek's polls actually mean in
Speaker 2: today's deep dive.
Speaker 1: But first, Zara, what's making headlights? Prime Minister Anthony Alberzi
Speaker 1: has announced two billion dollars in trade and investment funding
Speaker 1: in Southeast Asia. The funding is designed to support a
Speaker 1: transition to clean energy in the region and the development
Speaker 1: of new infrastructure. It comes as the Association of Southeast
Speaker 1: Asian Nation Summit so Asian came to a close in
Speaker 1: Melbourne yesterday.
Speaker 2: Australia's economy grew zero point two percent from October to
Speaker 2: December in twenty twenty three, according to new data from
Speaker 2: the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This figure is the growth
Speaker 2: of the gross domestic product or GDP, which is the
Speaker 2: total value of all goods and services produced within a country.
Speaker 2: The Head of National Accounts at the ABS said government
Speaker 2: spending and private business investments were the main causes of
Speaker 2: growth during the period.
Speaker 1: Peru's Prime Minister, Alberto Otarala has stepped down over an
Speaker 1: alleged audio leak accusing him of corruption. The audio recording
Speaker 1: was allegedly of the Prime minister from before his time
Speaker 1: in office, speaking to a woman about how much he
Speaker 1: loved her and telling her to send him his CV.
Speaker 1: The woman was later awarded contracts to carry out government work.
Speaker 1: The Prime minister has denied any wrongdoing that announced in
Speaker 1: a letter to Peru's president that he is formally resigning
Speaker 1: as prime minister after just over a year in office.
Speaker 2: And today's good news, global health donors have announced new
Speaker 2: funding worth nine hundred and twenty million dollars to eliminate
Speaker 2: cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer
Speaker 2: in women, and over ninety percent of deaths from cervical
Speaker 2: cancer occur in low and middle income countries. The new
Speaker 2: funding aims to meet a number of targets by twenty thirty,
Speaker 2: such as vaccinating ninety percent of girls against HPV, a
Speaker 2: precursor to XIX cervical cancer, by the age of fifteen,
Speaker 2: and ensuring that women with cervical disease receive the correct treatment.
Speaker 2: Funding donors include the World Bank, UNISEF, and the Bill
Speaker 2: and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Speaker 3: ZARA.
Speaker 2: One of the biggest tests for US presidential candidates has
Speaker 2: finally come and gone. Super Tuesday. I feel like we
Speaker 2: were hearing about this day for a long time, and
Speaker 2: if you're listening wondering why we're talking about a Tuesday
Speaker 2: on a Thursday, that has a lot to do with
Speaker 2: time zones.
Speaker 1: I think this is the hardest maths we've ever had
Speaker 1: to do, truly perplexing.
Speaker 2: Voting across more than a dozen US states didn't actually
Speaker 2: conclude until mid to late in the afternoon for most
Speaker 2: of us. Here in Australia on Wednesday. That's why Thursday
Speaker 2: morning we are talking about Super Tuesday.
Speaker 1: I want to get to Super Tuesday in just a second.
Speaker 1: But Super Tuesday is just one element of a vastly
Speaker 1: different election process in the US. The what we have
Speaker 1: here in Australia. Can you just give us a bit
Speaker 1: of a lay of the land. How does it actually
Speaker 1: work in the US.
Speaker 2: So the first thing to say is that there are
Speaker 2: two major parties in the US. So we have the
Speaker 2: Republican Party, the traditionally more conservative or right leaning party,
Speaker 2: and the Democrats with the sort of traditionally more progressive
Speaker 2: or left leaning values. Joe Biden, the current President of
Speaker 2: the US, is a Democrat. So going into a US election,
Speaker 2: there might be anywhere from one to a handful of
Speaker 2: hopefuls on both sides who are competing to become their
Speaker 2: party's official presidential candidate, and that candidate is known as
Speaker 2: the party's nominee. So when it comes to the lead
Speaker 2: up to a presidential election, each of the fifty states
Speaker 2: in the US has its own rules, but most hold
Speaker 2: a vote called a primary ballot or primaries. You've probably
Speaker 2: heard yeah discussed, and this is where voters have their
Speaker 2: say on who they think should be their party's presidential candidate.
Speaker 1: So just to clarify here, we're talking about states going
Speaker 1: to vote for who the candidate for the major parties
Speaker 1: should be, not who should actually be president. Yep, exactly.
Speaker 2: So if we were in California on Tuesday, we might
Speaker 2: go to the polls to decide who our favorite Republican
Speaker 2: candidate was or who our favorite Democrat candidate was. A
Speaker 2: small number of states hold something called a caucus instead
Speaker 2: of a primary, and they're run by political parties where
Speaker 2: registered members can cast their vote at a meeting. They
Speaker 2: only happen in a few of those fifty states.
Speaker 1: So those are primaries. What Super Tuesday then.
Speaker 2: So Super Tuesday refers to a day, the first Tuesday
Speaker 2: of March, when a group of states hold their primaries
Speaker 2: on the same day, so a bunch of states. We're
Speaker 2: talking sixteen this year, but that number varies from year
Speaker 2: to year. It's not the day when the nominees are confirmed,
Speaker 2: so the Republican nominee, Democrat nominee. It's a day that does,
Speaker 2: give us, however, a pretty good idea of who will
Speaker 2: ultimately lead each of the major.
Speaker 1: Parties, because there are so many primaries in one day
Speaker 1: that if you see someone sweeping all of those primaries,
Speaker 1: it's a pretty clear indication.
Speaker 2: Exactly. So the number of primaries varies every election on
Speaker 2: Super Tuesday, as I said, but this year we had
Speaker 2: those sixteen primaries all on the same day, hence Super Tuesday.
Speaker 1: But it's very literal, Yeah, very literal. It's just super.
Speaker 1: It's just big sixteen.
Speaker 2: Is not a super as it's been before. To give
Speaker 2: you a sense of how super it can get. Before
Speaker 2: Obama became president in two thousand and eight, he faced
Speaker 2: off with Hillary Clinton in twenty four Democrat contests for
Speaker 2: the nomination for his party. So, okay, twenty four primaries
Speaker 2: on that Super Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Okay, So is there anything behind why Super Tuesday exists?
Speaker 1: Like why is it on a Tuesday? We vote on
Speaker 1: a Saturday. Why are they doing on a Tuesday? That
Speaker 1: feels really inconvenient for everybody involved.
Speaker 2: Yep, this is a really good question and one with
Speaker 2: a pretty interesting answer, a little bit of a strange one.
Speaker 2: Voting is not compulsory in the US, we should say
Speaker 2: off the bat, But voting on a Tuesday is actually
Speaker 2: an American tradition that dates back to the nineteenth century, right.
Speaker 1: Get this.
Speaker 2: It's because back in the day, Christian farmers needed enough
Speaker 2: time to travel from their towns and their farms to
Speaker 2: voting booths in voting centers and cities after Sunday church services.
Speaker 2: So Tuesday was considered the least inconvenient because it would
Speaker 2: be like, farmer wakes up, goes to church on Sunday
Speaker 2: and then they have enough time to get the horse
Speaker 2: and cart into town to vote on a Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Wow, so go Yeah, that's why.
Speaker 2: And both the November presidential election and Super Tuesdays fall
Speaker 2: on the first Tuesday of the month, So the final
Speaker 2: big US election day moment that will also come on
Speaker 2: a Tuesday this year.
Speaker 1: I am so looking forward to using that fact at
Speaker 1: a trivia night and never again at any point in
Speaker 1: my life. It's a good one. Let's bring ourselves back
Speaker 1: into the twenty first century. What do we need to
Speaker 1: know about the Super Tuesday results?
Speaker 2: So I'm going to focus more on the Republican primaries
Speaker 2: here because President Joe Biden is expected to be chosen
Speaker 2: as the Democrat nominee and he has no serious challenges,
Speaker 2: but Republican voters this week in states like California, Alabama, Virginia,
Speaker 2: just to name a few, were tasked with choosing between
Speaker 2: the former US President Donald Trump and his last legitimate challenger,
Speaker 2: Nicky Hayley, who.
Speaker 1: We have spoken about a number of times exactly.
Speaker 2: So going into Super Tuesday, they were the remaining two
Speaker 2: Republican candidates in these primaries. Nicki Haley a quick reminder,
Speaker 2: the former governor of South Carolina, a former UN ambassador,
Speaker 2: and despite losing in almost every primary before this week
Speaker 2: except Washington, where there's I'm sure a joke here about
Speaker 2: how there are less than five Republicans in the state
Speaker 2: of Washington, Hailey had vowed to hang in there. She
Speaker 2: promised voters that she was going to stick it out
Speaker 2: to at least Super Tuesday as an alternative to Trump.
Speaker 3: South Carolina has spoken, We're the fourth state to do so.
Speaker 3: In the next ten days, another twenty one states and
Speaker 3: territories will speak. They have the right to a real choice,
Speaker 3: not a Soviet style election with only one candidate, and
Speaker 3: I have a duty to give them that choice.
Speaker 2: So, going into Super Tuesday, then this week, Trump was
Speaker 2: considered the overwhelming favorite, and the results are consistent with
Speaker 2: that trend. Nikki Haley won in at least the state
Speaker 2: of Vermont with fifty point one percent of the vote,
Speaker 2: But it does look like, at least at the time
Speaker 2: of recording, Trump has won at least a dozen more
Speaker 2: states in the primaries, and that paid the way for
Speaker 2: what many have been expecting a twenty twenty presidential election
Speaker 2: rematch showdown between Biden and Trump.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we have the rights to play
Speaker 1: Beyonce's d but if we did, I would play it
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: I would sing it right now if I didn't think
Speaker 2: it would ruin everyone's day exactly.
Speaker 1: Good morning, and here's our voices. Okay, So, if Donald
Speaker 1: Trump is expected to be the Republican nominee, I presume
Speaker 1: that means that Nicky Haley's presidential hope. So all bit over.
Speaker 2: Trump's victories in all of these states, and they are many,
Speaker 2: doesn't actually officially crown him the Republican nominee. So he
Speaker 2: hasn't really formally secured that. But what he has secured
Speaker 2: are lots of delegates, so bear with me. In most cases,
Speaker 2: you can think of delegates as points. So during a
Speaker 2: primary election, the candidate will win a certain number of
Speaker 2: delegates or points, depending on how big the state is.
Speaker 2: A state with more people like California will have more
Speaker 2: delegates up for grabs whoever wins the primary vote, and
Speaker 2: a small er state like Rhode Island will have fewer
Speaker 2: delegates up for grabs. So whoever wins the majority of delegates,
Speaker 2: so again, think of it like points, they will typically
Speaker 2: become their party's nominee den party's presidential candidate.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So, because Nikki Hayley has won barely any primaries, she
Speaker 2: has barely any.
Speaker 1: Delegates, understood, and so Trump would have many delegates hundreds Okay,
Speaker 1: So if Trump has won that many delegates, it's likely
Speaker 1: he could win the Republican nomination, But we have to
Speaker 1: wait for that to be declared officially. Right when does
Speaker 1: that happen?
Speaker 2: Yep? So after Super Tuesday, there will still be a
Speaker 2: few more primaries to come in the next couple of months,
Speaker 2: and then both major parties will hold national conventions later
Speaker 2: in the year where their presidential and vice presidential nominees
Speaker 2: will be confirmed. So, even if we know that Trump
Speaker 2: has hundreds and hundreds more delegates than any other challenger.
Speaker 1: He has to wait for the big dance, has to
Speaker 1: wait for the.
Speaker 2: Big dance, and that will be for the Republican Party
Speaker 2: in July in Milwaukee, and the Democratic Convention will be
Speaker 2: in August in Chicago. Now that's where President Joe Biden
Speaker 2: is expected to be chosen is his party's candidate for
Speaker 2: the White House race. And then we can look forward
Speaker 2: to three months of campaigning, which I'm sure will be
Speaker 2: mutually respectful and exciting, before the US election on the
Speaker 2: fifth of November, which as we know, is a Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Now, we do know that before we wrap up. It
Speaker 1: feels like we've been talking about a Biden Trump showdown
Speaker 1: for a long time. At least it seems like that
Speaker 1: was what was going to happen. We know both of
Speaker 1: them can win an election. Both of them have won
Speaker 1: an election. Do we have any more of a sense
Speaker 1: of how things might turn out this time?
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a very different world for Donald Trump going
Speaker 2: into this election than the context that he won the
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen election, in he defeated Hillary Clinton, she was
Speaker 2: the Democrat nominee at the time. But since then, you know,
Speaker 2: we've seen numerous criminal cases brought against him, multiple lawsuits,
Speaker 2: fraud investigations, and of course the fallout from the January
Speaker 2: sixth attack on the Capitol in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: But as chaotic is that.
Speaker 2: Might all sound, and as wild as the headlines have
Speaker 2: been in the years since his presidency, it doesn't really
Speaker 2: seem to have impacted his popularity with voters.
Speaker 1: But nor does it actually impact his ability to run exactly, like,
Speaker 1: none of these criminal trials will actually make any difference
Speaker 1: to his chances of being able to run.
Speaker 2: And just this week we saw court action that was
Speaker 2: overturned in the Supreme Court after states like Colorado vowed
Speaker 2: to remove his name from the election ballot. That decision
Speaker 2: was overturned in the US's highest court this week. So
Speaker 2: you're absolutely right that despite those headlines, there hasn't really
Speaker 2: been any significant obsticle stopping him from running. And if
Speaker 2: we look at Super Tuesday, you know there were huge
Speaker 2: swings towards him in some states like Texas and Alabama.
Speaker 2: He won around eighty percent of the vote in those primaries.
Speaker 1: So it's clear that he has both the popularity to
Speaker 1: win the Republican nomination but also the ability to run
Speaker 1: for president. What do we know about how this showdown
Speaker 1: between Trump and Biden is shaping up. Do we have
Speaker 1: any indication of I know, it was still a bit
Speaker 1: far away of who could win in November.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's funny thinking about the fact that
Speaker 2: the election is still eight months away.
Speaker 1: I can't be long eight months.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a long eight months. But it's already been a
Speaker 2: long year or so since we first started to talk
Speaker 2: about Trump throwing his hat back in the ring. But
Speaker 2: in terms of the numbers, four substantial polls in the
Speaker 2: US this week show that Trump is in front of
Speaker 2: Biden with leads of between two to four percent. So
Speaker 2: that's not nothing, but it's not a dundee. That being said,
Speaker 2: as well, despite Biden being behind in the polls, he
Speaker 2: has the advantage of being an incumbent. Now, this is
Speaker 2: the idea of someone in office seeking re election, and
Speaker 2: historically what we've seen in the US is when a
Speaker 2: current president runs for a second term, they're typically more
Speaker 2: successful than the candidate challenging them. So in the last
Speaker 2: twelve elections in the US, to put this into perspective,
Speaker 2: incumbent candidates have won eight times, leaving four one term presidents.
Speaker 2: So that's gerald for Jimmy Carter, George Bush Senior, and
Speaker 2: of course Trump because he failed to win office for
Speaker 2: a second term when he was an incumbent in that race.
Speaker 2: So history tells us that Joe Biden has that advantage.
Speaker 2: Polls tell us that Trump has the popularity advantage. It's
Speaker 2: going to be a long.
Speaker 1: Road ahead that it is a lot could change, but
Speaker 1: I appreciate you telling us the lay of the land today. Hey,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us today on the Daily os. If
Speaker 1: you learn something from today's episode, don't forget to hit subscribe.
Speaker 1: So there is a TDA episode waiting for you every
Speaker 1: weekday morning. We'll be back again tomorrow, but until then,
Speaker 1: have a fabulous day. My name is Lily Maddon and
Speaker 1: I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Calcotin woman from Gadighl Country.
Speaker 1: The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on
Speaker 1: the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to
Speaker 1: all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay
Speaker 1: our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both
Speaker 1: past and present.