In a stunning triumph for a political outsider, Donald Trump all but clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a resounding victory in IN that knocked rival Ted Cruz out of the race and cleared Trump’s path to a likely November face-off with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
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The Clinton campaign has shifted its focus to other states, opting not to actively campaign or spend money in Indiana.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Indiana Democrats voting in the state’s primary on Tuesday say they’re energized and optimistic about their party’s nomination process, while Republicans say they’re anxious their party is being torn apart.
Aides to Ted Cruz aren’t holding out much hope for a victory over Donald Trump in today’s in primary.
Republican Ted Cruz launched a blistering attack on rival Donald Trump as voters cast ballots in IN on Tuesday, calling him “amoral” and likening him to a fictitious character he described as “a braggadocios, arrogant buffoon”.
Protesting the senior Cruz’s criticism of him, Trump cited an (uncorroborated) report in The National Enquirer with a picture supposedly showing Rafael Cruz standing near Oswald on a street. In Indianapolis, he said the state’s voters will decide “which path we should go down”.
Indeed, Trump’s first challenge will be uniting a Republican Party that has been roiled by his candidacy.
Republican leaders spent months dismissing Mr Trump as little more than an entertainer who would fade once voting started.
Cruz has benefited from millions in negative-ad spending from anti-Trump operatives.
“Over the last week, I have watched Lyin’ Ted become more and more unhinged as he is unable to react under the pressure and stress of losing, in all cases by landslides”, he said in a statement. Still, most said they probably would support whoever won for the GOP.
Most men supported Sanders, while women were about equally divided between him and Clinton. The Vermont senator has cultivated a deeply loyal following, in particular among young people, a group Democrats count on in the general election.
Mr Sanders has conceded that he faces a hard path to overtake Mrs Clinton, one that hinges on convincing superdelegates to back him over the former secretary of state. In 2012, half the vote had been reported by 8 p.m., and 95 percent by 10 p.m. He said the Texas senator “does not have the temperament to be president of the United States”.
Trump used what appears to be an overwhelming victory, in IN, which was projected immediately after polls closed, to vault himself into the rarefied air surrounding a presidential candidate whose nomination is now easily within reach.
“Donald Trump’s gonna look a lot like more like Hillary Clinton than he does like Ronald Reagan”.
Trump’s allegations against Rafael Cruz immediately began trending on social media Tuesday, even sparking a hashtag on Twitter, #Trumpconspiracytheories, that mocks the real estate mogul’s claims. Still, his torrent of attacks Tuesday was by far the most pointed and personal of the campaign to date.
Cruz and Kasich are trying to prevent Trump from securing the majority of delegates he needs to win the nomination on the first ballot at the July convention in Cleveland.
The SurveyUSA poll, commissioned by the Los Angeles ABC News affiliate KABC, shows Trump receiving support from 54 percent of registered California Republican voters.
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IN was supposed to be where Ted Cruz stopped Donald Trump’s recent east coast winning streak.
