Voters in 16 U.S. states cast their ballots March 5 for the presidential primaries, as news outlets and anxious voters followed the results of Super Tuesday this year.

Super Tuesday is the day the largest number of states hold their primaries for the presidential election, but if you’re starting to think you missed the polls, don’t worry.

Ohio’s primaries will take place on March 19, and Pennsylvania’s on April 23, so most Kent State students still have plenty of time.

Although Super Tuesday revealed a good deal about public perception, the stakes aren’t as high as they have been in previous years. In 2020, the primaries solidified Biden’s support above Sanders’, and the nationwide results were seen fairly clearly in that year’s Super Tuesday.

In 2024, there are two real candidates still in the running: Donald Trump and Joe Biden — the pair we knew from the beginning would make it to the end. Of course, Nikki Haley has been hanging on by a thread, even managing to win Vermont and D.C., but Trump’s domination in the polls have spelled the end of her run this year.

Although there were some entertaining Republican debates early on in the election, for close to a month, the only remaining candidates are Haley and Trump. To win the Republican nomination, however, 1,215 delegates are needed—Haley garnered a mere 89, and she will be making a quick exit.

Really, Super Tuesday has just confirmed what we all knew was inevitable: 2024 will be a rematch between Trump and Biden.

They both scooped up the vast majority of delegates in their party, as expected. Trump is leading with 995 delegates (220 to go for the nomination), and Biden is leading with 1,497 delegates. 

For Biden, 1,968 delegates are needed to win the nomination. His two opposing candidates are Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson —neither of whom managed to win a single delegate. Phillips has promised to reevaluate his direction and continued candidacy over the next few days, but Williamson jumped on X to reassure her minimal followers that she had no plans of dropping out yet, even though any further effort on her part would be futile at this point.

Over all, this Super Tuesday held little suspense and a fairly certain conclusion. There will be primaries held for the remaining states over the next couple of months, but the result is clear—Biden and Trump will both receive their party’s nominations. 

Pollings show that Trump tends to have a very slight lead over Biden, but that’s usually within the margin of error.  In other words, this is going to be another tight race.

The good news for Biden is that although his term hasn’t increased his popularity much among Democrats or Republicans, he has a bit more time to win over his intra-party detractors. Many of the recent criticisms of his presidency have had to do with the way he has handled the U.S.’s involvement in Gaza, but the response to that will likely become a bit less volatile over the coming months.

Trump, on the other hand, will be facing the same issues he has since 2016, along with all of the other controversies and faults he has made public since then. He has maintained a strong cult following, but he is consistently losing 30-40% of the GOP vote.

As his popularity wanes, the stark party division will work greatly in his favor. Like the 2020 election, many voters will be casting their ballots to prevent the other candidate from taking office, rather than due to any strict allegiance to the nominee.

This is an important one to vote for, so make sure you’re casting your ballot on March 19 if you’re an Ohio resident. The 2024 election will probably look fairly similar to the last one: tensions running high, nonsensical debates, and a very close election, so make your vote count.