The strong performance adds to his delegate lead, and the unfortunate reality for Republican leaders is that his grasp on the party’s presidential nomination is growing stronger by the day.
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And his detractors are flipping out. Rubio must win that one. “Nuking Trump from orbit in Florida”. Rubio scored his first win of the season, in the Minnesota caucuses.
Once you look outside the Republican party, his favorability rating is bad, no way around it. It’s why Axelrod, Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, told Vox taking Trump apart on policy won’t work as well as taking him apart on his record and his offensive statements. Trump, a political newcomer, pulled in two-thirds of voters looking to install an outsider in the White House, while GOP voters seeking an experienced candidate were split between Rubio and Cruz, both first-term senators.
But Super PACs have appeared wildly ineffective this campaign, and it might well be too late to ruin Trump. Ted Cruz actually managed to beat Donald Trump, by a solid margin, nonetheless.
Trump won at least 192 delegates in Tuesday’s contests.
The only other states Cruz won include Alaska and Oklahoma.
Cruz has won four, including three on Super Tuesday, and is much closer to Trump in the delegate count.
CRUZ: I ask you to prayerfully consider our coming together, uniting.
His best region, the Bible Belt, has just gone for Trump, and he is weak in the north and Midwest. Cruz 149, Rubio 82, John Kasich 25 and Ben Carson only eight.
Now, Trump has earned the nomination. The ghost of Teddy Roosevelt? – could try to wrest the crown from him at the Republican convention in Cleveland in July.
Meanwhile, Trump started talking about unifying the Republicans in the general election.
Though Trump has his detractors on the right, Pilgrim said she believes Republicans will rally around the businessman as a conservative firewall against a Clinton presidency. Even little-known operatives are facing pressure to stay away. The remark was aimed at Trump after Trump did not immediately repudiate support from a white supremacist group over the weekend.
Thomas reported from Burlington, Vt., and Yen reported from Washington.
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Republicans and Democrats boosted the front-runners on Super Tuesday, sending Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton out to considerable leads in their respective nominating contests – while carving out a stark view of the road ahead for the rest of the field. Bush is the subject of Trump attacks and the brother of a failed Trump opponent; Reagan, 94, doesn’t have an active political constituency; Paul never had mass appeal.
