Biden's coalition showed up on Super Tuesday. Bernie's did not.

Sanders supporter looks at Super Tuesday map
(Image credit: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty Images)

Former Vice President Joe Biden went into Super Tuesday as an underdog, but after winning at least nine of the 14 primaries, he ended the night in pole position, or close to it. Biden began his surge with big victories in the South, fed by lopsided support from black voters and white suburbanites, and he ended by scoring an upset victory in Texas over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the previous frontrunner.

"A big problem for the Sanders theory of this race is that when turnout is high, he wins," The Washington Post's David Weigel noted. "Turnout is way up, but the most reliable new voters are Biden-curious suburbanites." The "Sanders coalition is sticky, but so far, it's static," CNN's Jeff Zeleny adds. "Sanders has argued again and again that he can build the biggest coalition of voters," but "in many cases his votes have gone down" from 2016. Sanders did increase his support among Latino voters, CNN's Zachary Wolf points out, but the young voters he promised would turn out for him failed to materialize.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.