Although he has yet to obtain the 1,991 delegates he needs to win the democratic nomination, Joe Biden has still mounted an almost insurmountable lead over Bernie Sanders with 823 pledged delegates to Sanders’ 663.

Biden rolled to more victories in more states this past Tuesday in Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, and maybe most importantly, Michigan. Biden now has a clear path to Milwaukee, where this year’s democratic convention will be held, and where the party’s nominee will be crowned. 

It’s more than likely that a Trump/Biden general election will take place in November, so it’s important to take a way-too-early look at what that might be like. 

Biden’s main goal will be to rebuild the coalition that elected Obama twice. Supporters of Biden’s nomination will say that having a ticket that includes someone directly from Obama’s inner circle is a good way of ensuring the dems will turn out in full force to support him. 

Biden’s landslide victory in Michigan is an important and positive sign for democrats, who so desperately want to rebuild the “blue wall” that Trump tore down in 2016. Michigan, a key state to the “blue wall” that still remains in rubles from last election, turned out heavily for Biden, as he beat Sanders in nearly every county, and democratic voter turnout exploded despite concerns of the coronavirus. 

In 2016, Clinton failed to appeal to white, working-class, northern voters in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio. All states she lost in 2016 to Trump. In 2020, however, voter turnout in the primaries may be signaling that it may not be so easy for Trump to win those states again come November.

It should also be noted that Trump may not be the electoral juggernaut he seemed to be four years ago. He only carried Michigan, Pennsylvania (Biden’s home state), and Wisconsin by a combined 78,000 votes. 

Dems in 2020 are hoping that Biden, a member of Obama’s administration, can do in 2020 what Clinton failed to do in 2016: mobilize black voters and win over working class northerners.