综合报道，近期，美国2020年总统大选初选因新冠肺炎疫情受到影响，不过民主党党内初选进程仍备受关注。随着前副总统拜登的领先优势持续扩大，外界开始聚焦另一位总统竞选人、参议员桑德斯的退选征兆，关注他是否会退选以及何时退选。
资料图：美国民主党总统竞选人、佛蒙特州联邦参议员桑德斯。
中新社记者 张蔚然 摄
停募款、撤广告 桑德斯萌生退意？
美国民主党初选开始以来，桑德斯从最初的领先到现在的被拜登拉开差距，胜出可能性越来越低。近日，他的竞选阵营也停止投放脸书(Facebook)竞选广告，19日的Email也连续两天不再呼吁支持者捐款，种种迹象都让外界揣测选战可能接近尾声。
桑德斯也公开表示，将谨慎评估未来走向。目前，桑德斯和妻子离开华盛顿特区返回佛蒙特州家中，与支持者对话并决定下一步。
拜登阵营内部人士也表示将停止攻击桑德斯，上述迹象看来，桑德斯退选可能只是迟早的事。
双方阵营持续沟通，桑德斯是否退选也尚未有时间表，不过两边幕僚透露将达成协议，让桑德斯“有尊严地退出选战”。
疫情影响多州初选 拜登胜出时间待定
另一方面，民主党总统竞选人、前副总统拜登胜出优势愈加明显。他17日连续赢得当日进行总统初选的佛罗里达州、伊利诺伊州和亚利桑那州，进一步拉开与竞争对手联邦参议员桑德斯的差距。
美国民主党总统竞选人、夏威夷州联邦众议员图尔西·加巴德19日也宣布退出2020年大选的角逐，转而支持前副总统拜登。
不过，多个州初选因新冠肺炎疫情延期，拜登可能得等到5月或6月，才能达到党代表票多数门槛。就账面数字来看，拜登在4月还无法达到党代表票门槛；如果桑德斯还未退选，他得在5月19日前的初选，赢得75%的选票；否则，他可能得等到6月2日才能确定在初选胜出。
此外，拜登也对新冠肺炎疫情献策，并为11月的总统大选展开备战。他的竞选团队副主席里奇蒙(Cedric Richmond)表示，拜登已开始考虑副总统候选人人选，并广纳退选候选人的阵营人员。
迎战特朗普 民主党面临团结挑战
美媒分析称，虽然延宕的初选能帮助拜登累积媒体关注和捐款，但桑德斯是否退选，将对团结民主党有巨大影响；否则将重演2016年桑德斯与希拉里厮杀到最后的局面，反倒不利对抗特朗普。
如果桑德斯真的退出，民主党需要避免2016年破坏党内团结的分歧出现。当时桑德斯和希拉里在希拉里获得提名后仍存在分歧，许多民主党人认为，这一争端造成了希拉里的大选失利，所以更希望此次民主党能够团结起来。
两位候选人的支持者之间的紧张关系也使人们怀疑他们是否能够迅速且顺利地走到一起。
此外，许多拜登的盟友希望能够尽早结束初选，他们担心长时间的战斗会破坏该党在11月的竞争力，并给准选民带来不必要的健康风险。
Stop advertising, stop fundraising, Saunders, start to retreat? Democrats face more challenges than trump
According to comprehensive reports novel coronavirus pneumonia has been affected by the recent 2020 presidential primary election, but the Democratic Party's primary election process remains a major concern. As the leading edge of former Vice President Biden continues to expand, the outside world begins to focus on the signs of the withdrawal of another presidential candidate, Senator Sanders, to see whether he will withdraw and when.
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Infographic: Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Sanders of Vermont. Photographed by Zhang Weiran, reporter of China News Agency
Stop fundraising and advertising. Saunders is ready to quit?
Since the beginning of the Democratic primary, Sanders from the initial lead to now by Biden opened the gap, the odds of winning are increasingly low. Recently, his campaign also stopped advertising Facebook, and email on the 19th stopped calling for donations from supporters for two days in a row, leading to speculation that the campaign might be coming to an end.
Sanders also said publicly that he would carefully assess the future direction. Currently, sanders and his wife leave Washington, D.C., and return to their Vermont home to talk to supporters and decide on the next step.
Biden camp insiders also said that they would stop attacking Sanders, the above signs suggest that Sanders may only withdraw sooner or later.
The two camps continued to communicate with each other, and there was no timetable for sanders to withdraw from the election, but the two sides' aides revealed that they would reach an agreement to let Sanders "withdraw from the election with dignity".
The impact of the epidemic on Biden's winning time in multi state primary
On the other hand, the Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Biden's victory advantage is more and more obvious. He won Florida, Illinois and Arizona in the presidential primary on the 17th in a row, further widening the gap with rival Senator Sanders.
US Democratic presidential candidate and Hawaii congressman Tulsi gabard also announced on the 19th that he would withdraw from the 2020 election and support former Vice President Biden.
However, because of novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemics postponed in many states, Biden may have to wait until May or June to reach the majority threshold of Party representation. In terms of book numbers, Biden was not able to reach the threshold for Party delegates in April; if Sanders had not yet returned, he would have to win 75% of the vote in the primary by May 19; otherwise, he might have to wait until June 2 to be sure of winning in the primary.
In addition, Biden novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic strategy, and for the November presidential election preparations. Cedric Richmond, vice-chairman of his campaign, said Biden had begun to consider candidates for vice president and was widely inclusive of those who had withdrawn.
Facing the challenge of unity against the Democratic Party of trump
According to US media analysis, although the delayed primary election can help Biden accumulate media attention and donations, whether Sanders withdraws or not will have a huge impact on uniting the Democratic Party; otherwise, it will repeat the fight between sanders and Hillary Clinton in 2016 to the end, which will be adverse to trump.
If Sanders does pull out, Democrats need to avoid disagreements in 2016 that undermine party unity. At that time, sanders and Hillary Clinton still had differences after Hillary's nomination. Many Democrats believed that the dispute caused Hillary's general election defeat, so they hoped that the Democratic Party could unite.
Tensions between the supporters of the two candidates also cast doubt on whether they can come together quickly and smoothly.
In addition, many of Biden's allies hope to end the primary as soon as possible, fearing that the prolonged fighting will undermine the party's competitiveness in November and pose unnecessary health risks to the prospective voters.
