On April 26, a week after the NY primary, five more northern and eastern states pick Republican delegates: Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Rhode Island.
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Both Sanders and the anti-Trump brigades got much bang for their buck, as each walked away victors.
Cruz and the anti-Trump movement had eyed Wisconsin as a firewall against the real estate tycoon’s march to become the GOP flag bearer.
Because Democrats award delegates proportionally, Sanders’ victory in Wisconsin did not cut significantly into Clinton’s lead in the pledged delegate count. It merely demonstrates that the Texas senator is consolidating his role as the “anti-Trump” in a presidential nomination race that has plunged the GOP into crisis.
A survey by Christopher Newport University says that one-third or 29 percent of Republican voters surveyed said they would vote for the Democratic nominee, sit out the election or vote for a third-party candidate. “And I started talking to him about the World Trade Center, the bravery, the incredible bravery of everybody, our police, our firemen, our everybody”, said Trump. The focus of the campaign now turns to NY which holds its critical primary on April 19.
Describing Wisconsin as a “turning point”, Cruz, a Texas senator, told backers that Republican voters will increasingly turn to him as the alternative to Trump.
“Notably, among Cruz’s own voters, only a quarter were excited about what he’d do as president – further suggesting that he garnered substantial anti-Trump, not necessarily, pro-Cruz, support”.
This has done little to hurt Clinton’s lead of 1,279 delegates to Sanders’s 1,027 in the race to the Democratic target of 2,383 needed to win the nomination. Thirty-one percent of those Wisconsin voters supported Trump, while a whopping 54% voted Cruz. Both Mr Trump and Mr Cruz have urged him to drop out so they can have his delegates. The Ohio governor’s only victory has come in his home state, but he’s still picking up delegates that could otherwise help Trump inch closer to the nomination or help Cruz catch up. A majority, 55 percent, said “the candidate with the most votes in the primaries”. “Because I believe that the importance of this election and setting our country on the right path for the current and future [partially inaudible] generations is more important now than ever”, she said.
At Wednesday’s rally, Trump, who is originally from NY and still lives there, played up his affinity for his home state. He would need to nab essentially all of the remaining delegates to do it. Cruz’s odds of blocking Trump from clinching the endorsement have improved extensively, however. All of the candidates seem to think they have the momentum and it’s hard to see anyone who has really grabbed the race and made it theirs.
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Cruz, however, brushed off Trump’s statement Wednesday afternoon.
