Local expert weighs in on Super Tuesday results and Nikki Haley suspending 2024 campaign

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — Super Tuesday has come and gone, with Donald Trump and Joe Biden convincingly winning most of their respective races.

Donald Trump's lone loss to former South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley came in the state of Vermont.

Wednesday morning she announced her campaign was being suspended.

Dr. David Richards, the Chair of Political Science at the University of Lynchburg, told ABC13 earlier this week that he was expecting Super Tuesday to be 'Super Snoozeday' with not many surprises expected.

Richards explained Wednesday morning that those expectations were correct, with no major surprises in the results.

While the results weren't surprising, the voter turnout was with light showings from both Republicans and Democrats at the polls.

"You know there's not a whole lot of enthusiasm outside of the base for both of these candidates," Richards said. "They're having trouble connecting to that middle voter."

Richards said the base, for both Biden and Trump, isn't enough for either candidate to win in November; they need to reach the independent and disenfranchised voters in each of their respective parties.

He said that voters could have easily thought the races were already forgone conclusions, contributing to people's decisions to stay home instead of go to the polls.

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It's also not surprising to see Nikki Haley suspending her campaign today, according to Richards, given the results on Tuesday and Trump's clear pathway to victory in the Republican nomination.

At this point, Richards said that it will be interesting to watch how the Republican party will unify moving forward.

He added that both Trump and Haley loyalists will need to have short memories about their competition in the primary if they hope to have a Republican win against Joe Biden in November.