Trump, the billionaire NY businessman, now can claim victories in the West, the South and Northeast _ a testament to his broad appeal among voters frustrated with the political establishment.
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And Donald Trump, with his rivals locked in a battle for second, is fighting for a third straight victory to expand a delegate lead that could soon become insurmountable.
Trump won 38 percent of the voters who described themselves as “very conservative”, according to the entrance poll published by CNN.
The contest was the fourth for the Republican presidential candidates, with Mr Trump so far winning in New Hampshire and SC.
Winning in Nevada puts Trump in a commanding position going into Super Tuesday on March 1. “It’s going to be an fantastic two months”, he said. “We might not even need the two months”.
The new way the race slims down is if Trump can beat either Cruz or Rubio in their home states. Repeating again that he was the only candidate so far to best Trump – in Iowa – Cruz declared that Super Tuesday, now less than one week away, “Will be the most important night of this campaign”.
If the results hold true, it would mean Cruz would finish with the most delegates in the state, but he won’t win all of them. Rounding out the bottom of the field were retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 4.8% and 3.6% respectively.
The largest share of delegates on Super Tuesday comes from Texas, which has 155.
“We have a lot of working class people in Florida, and he appeals to them by his viewpoints”, said voter Jamie Wiyda.
The Nevada win is the third in a row for Trump in the state-by-state nominating contest for the November election.
But he faces a growing challenge in the South from Rubio, who is trying to emerge as the alternative to Trump and Cruz. Marco Rubio, or they can vote for a “consistent conservative” like himself.
Trump was widely expected to win in Nevada, after leading every recent poll by double digits.
Surely, Nevada would be the place he’d win.
It is also the first test of Republican voter sentiment after Jeb Bush pulled out of the race last week following a poor showing in SC.
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It raises the stakes for Cruz in Georgia and the sweep of other Southern states that vote next week.
