Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign pulled off a major upset in the Democratic primary elections on March 3, also known as “Super Tuesday”. “Super Tuesday” is objectively the most important day for party nominees when running for president, as it typically indicates who will get a party’s nomination. This Tuesday’s election has many beginning to believe that it is a two-man race between Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders for the democratic nomination.  

Why is this an upset? 

Before Super Tuesday, Sanders was leading by a three percent margin (according to Vox) over Biden. However, polling has not been conducted for as long as six months in some states like Alabama, leaving the public with an unclear picture as to which way states would ultimately sway.

What’s causing a shift? 

Two candidates, former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, dropped out of the race in the days leading up to the primaries, and voiced their support for Biden’s campaign. This inevitably led to an increase in popularity for the former vice president, allowing him to claim any delegates the candidates may have received in early voting. 

But is this really an upset? 

Now this is where it starts to get a little tricky. Should we have expected this all along? Some may say the answer is yes. Why? Because of the “political noise.” The energized liberals that make up a majority of Sander’s base have proven to be extremely vocal so far. Thus creating the (possible) illusion that most left leaning voters will support Sanders. However, it seems a quiet moderate middle that supports Biden took the cake on Tuesday. 

On the other hand, a lack of hard data, as previously mentioned, has also led to a lot of speculation on who would win. Now leading to an argument that election day was fair game, and that there were no real front runners all along.

Not to mention, that the throughout all the differing platforms, the democrats have one goal in mind: to beat Donald Trump. According to the Washington Post, the record turnout “is all about defeating President Trump,” and in a New York Times poll “impeaching Trump”is overwhelmingly important to Democratic voters. This passionate push to have the president leave the White House next January could be a reason as to why many have begun to unify under Biden. After all, he is marketed as the safe-choice and associated with President Barack Obama, who has been very popular among Democrats.