Not much of a protest vote in SC. Biden garners 95% of the vote. Not much evidence that democrats actually want an alternative to Biden here… https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...esults-south-carolina-democratic-primary.html
sadly, turnout looking pretty weak if you compare to 2020 primary. Dump's numbers in the middle of COVID w/a much higher cultish incumbent approval dwarf Biden's, and were higher still this time. I know the GOP makes a spectacle of their primary and that side doesn't even believe in COVID so who knows if that's just historically the case for primary enthusiasm. As it stands tho, as expected, Joe's struggling to get out the vote,
https://www.yahoo.com/news/what-bid...win-means-for-his-2024-chances-002511342.html What Biden's South Carolina primary win means for his 2024 chances Andrew Romano ·West Coast Correspondent Updated Sun, February 4, 2024 at 1:34 AM GMT+1·5 min read Facing nominal opposition in a state where he has long been a favorite among Democrats, President Biden won the 2024 South Carolina Democratic primary Saturday night by a wide margin. The Associated Press called South Carolina for Biden at 7:23 p.m. EST, shortly after the polls closed there. Biden’s easy win over self-help author Marianne Williamson and Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips is not surprising. Thanks to a primary electorate heavy on Black voters and Southern moderates — two of his strongest constituencies — the Palmetto State revived the campaign of the former Delaware senator and two-term vice president in 2020 after consecutive losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, propelling him to the nomination. Four years later, as an incumbent with no major challengers, Biden was always expected to win the primary. But the victory still tells us something about Biden's strengths and weaknesses as he prepares for the general election in November. Why it matters Yet the South Carolina result is still important as an indication of how far Biden’s reelection bid has come — and a reminder of the challenges ahead. According to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, former President Donald Trump now holds the narrowest of leads (45%) over Biden (44%) in a hypothetical general-election matchup. Previously, Biden led Trump by several points in all but one Yahoo News/YouGov survey conducted between late 2022 and the fall of 2023. Since then, however, the two have been locked in a statistical tie. The November election is likely to be close. For months, anxious Democrats have feared that Biden’s advanced age (he’s 81) and America’s confusing post-COVID economy would continue to depress his approval ratings, sapping liberal enthusiasm and creating an otherwise unavailable comeback opportunity for Trump — a candidate who was impeached twice and is now facing 91 felony charges in four separate criminal cases, two of which center on his unprecedented attempt to cling to power after losing the 2020 election. The same Democrats have speculated about — and even hoped for — an alternative nominee to ride to the rescue. But only Phillips and Williamson opted in — and now, with his win in South Carolina, Biden has effectively ensured that he won’t go down in history as the only elected incumbent since Franklin Pierce in 1856 to lose his party’s presidential nomination. Is Biden bouncing back? So is it time to reexamine the counterargument that has been coming from Biden’s campaign — namely, that voters will “come around” as inflation cools and the reality of another Trump term snaps into focus? If so, the new Yahoo News/YouGov poll offers some early signs of hope for the president. For starters, Democrats seem to be falling in line. A full 74% of potential primary voters now say they support Biden as their 2024 nominee against Williamson (4%) and Phillips (3%) — up from 68% who said in December that they would vote for Biden in their state’s primary or caucus. Likewise, Democratic support for Biden (62%) versus a hypothetical “someone else” (28%) is 11 points higher than it was just last month — and less than half (42%) of potential Democratic primary voters say they want another Democrat to challenge the president, down from 50% in December and 54% in November. Democrats are also increasingly likely to describe Biden as “fit to serve another term as president”: 64% now vs. 54% in November. At the same time, Democrats are seven points more likely to say they approve of how Biden is handling the presidency (81%) than they were last month (74%). As a result, Biden’s overall approval rating among all Americans (40%) has jumped by three points over the same period — and while still low, it’s higher than it has been since August of last year. The issue on which Biden has gained the most ground since December? The economy, where he’s gone from 36% to 39% approval among all Americans — and from 69% to 79% among Democrats. This modest shift likely reflects real-world economic trends, including falling inflation, low unemployment and higher-than-expected growth. A third of all U.S. adults (33%) now describe the current state of the American economy as excellent or good, up six points from 27% in December and 10 points from 23% in September. By the same token, just 32% say the economy is in recession, down from 36% in December and the lowest number on a Yahoo News/YouGov survey since the question was introduced in August 2022. Back then, a majority of Americans (53%) said the economy was experiencing a recession. The battle isn’t over yet To be sure, both economic sentiment and Biden’s approval ratings remain lower than the White House would like. The president is tied with his predecessor, and neither independents nor Republicans are inclined to look favorably upon the economy — or Biden’s stewardship of it. But once-reluctant Democrats are increasingly doing just that — and they, in turn, may be starting to boost Biden’s overall numbers. Meanwhile, worries that younger voters and voters of color would abandon Biden over his support for Israel seem not to have materialized; Biden’s current approval ratings among Black Americans (63%) and Americans aged 18-29 (49%) are actually higher today than they were in September 2023 (53% and 42%, respectively), prior to the war in Gaza. None of this means Biden is favored to win reelection in November. But the South Carolina results show his party is finally getting behind him — and that’s the first step.
I was struggling to find a relevant comparison but that’s not a bad point there. I was mainly looking to see if a protest vote showed up but couldn’t really figure out a good comparable metric for turnout. It is important to note enthusiasm is down on the republican side this cycle too.
Depends on what the defintion of "here" is. Every poll in the country has consistently shown that voters/dems either don't want Biden to run or want a choice. Keep in mind what I have said before, which is that Biden will experience a dead cat bounce in some numbers as dems give up on the idea that there is an alternative or any hope for one and beging to rally around the idea that a dem needs to be elected. Which is exactly what is happening. Big mistake though to do what you are doing which is to conclude that there is "not much evidence that democrats want an alternative to Biden. BIG MISTAKE. They are flaccid as can be about Biden. If the DNC had run a for-real primary where you had serious contenders such as Newsom or Whitmer or the like, you would see lots on non-biden votes, to put it mildly. Everyone has flattened out now. They wanted a choice, not a chance to come out and vote for some fringe unknowns. But yeh, the Massah owns South Carolina. That's why they started there. And the whole dem primary is flat as a pancake in every state coming up. Nothing to watch. Be careful though if anyone puts up a third party. You want to watch that plenty because some of those who have given up on Biden could vote there and throw it into the house. Not that I have not pointed that out before, but don't get cocky. There is no love for Biden. He is just a utilitity grade candidate when someone wants to vote for a dem rather than a pub. Cardboard cut-out Joe.