Republican voters weigh in on the presidential race in 11 states Tuesday amid toxic rancor among the candidates and an emerging party split over the prospect of a Donald Trump presidential nomination.
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Trump was asked Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether he rejected support from the former KKK Grand Dragon and other white supremacists after Duke told his radio followers this week that a vote against Trump was equivalent to “treason to your heritage”. Trump has expanded his lead over the diminished field to capture the support of almost half of Republican voters, while Clinton tops Bernie Sanders by almost 20 points on the Democrat votes, according to a CNN/ORC poll. The question is whether their margins prove insurmountable. Trump has strung off three consecutive victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada, ahead of Super Tuesday’s contests, in which more than 10 states vote.
Trump holds commanding leads across the region, with the exception of Cruz’s home state of Texas, a dynamic that puts tremendous pressure on Rubio and Cruz as they try to outlast each other and derail Trump. Cruz cast his rival as a carbon copy of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and suggested that not even Trump “knows what he would do” as president. “Maybe it’s the case that Mitt Romney is richer than Donald Trump”, Cruz said. Rubio and Cruz trailed far behind, with 16 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
Throughout the evening, the KIRO 7 Digital Team will be tracking returns as they come in, state by state, up until the tallies are in from Colorado and Alaska, the two western states where voting is taking place on Super Tuesday. Asked who of the five candidates is most honest and trustworthy, 35 percent name Trump, 22 percent Carson – who has largely stayed out of the mudslinging – 14 percent Cruz and 13 percent Rubio.
If Trump were to clinch the nomination, Cruz believes the billionaire would “probably” lose to Clinton. Texas has the most delegates – 155.
The Democratic race appeared to shift in favor of Hillary Clinton following a major victory in the SC primary. These delegates are party leaders, and party leaders are now not fans of Donald Trump.
“Ohio is what we think we will win”, campaign spokesman Rob Nichols said. These delegates will be distributed proportionally, but Clinton’s leads are so large, it could still represent a very large advantage over Sanders.
But she was leaving nothing to chance, traveling to multiple states to urge a strong turnout. We are going to make America great again.
“That’s where…we’re going to do real well, and we’ll get to the 1,237, [Trump] will not”, Rubio told reporters in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Super Tuesday will unquestionably be a gut check for the Republican Party.
