The poll also shows a majority of GOP voters in IN disapprove of the attempted alliance between Cruz and Kasich to consolidate the anti-Trump vote in the state.
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So far, it doesn’t appear to be working.
Rob Arlett, Trump’s state campaign chairman, urged fellow Delawareans to rally around Trump, who Arlett said is the only Republican who can beat Hillary Clinton.
Trump is arguing that his lead is already insurmountable and that he is the likely nominee, particularly given his 17.4 percentage-point lead in California, the final delegate-rich prize on the Republican calendar.
Ted Cruz pulled out a strategic victory at the Arizona Republican Party convention Saturday, winning virtually all of the 28 at-large national delegates and roughly splitting the 27 delegates selected by congressional district, reports the AP. “If we win IN, it’s over”. As Kasich scrapped public events here (while keeping commitments to meet donors and delegates), Cruz portrayed the Hoosier State as the place where, finally, Republican voters could unite to stop Trump.
As you can see in the graph above, Cruz spent much of the campaign with a considerably better image among his party’s base than Trump did. Notably, not all 10 non-Trump delegates are loyal Cruz supporters.
The good news for Cruz?
The candidate himself dismissed recent opinion polls.
It’s those voters Cruz needs, argued Pete Seat, a Republican strategist in IN whose firm was advising Kasich. “What a dumb deal – dead on arrival!”
On Wednesday, the Texas senator made another rare announcement. He named former presidential candidate and Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina his running mate if he were to win the nomination. Trump used to claim that Cruz is not a “natural-born citizen” and therefore ineligible to be president.
Cruz has benefited from millions in negative-ad spending from anti-Trump operatives.
Standing next to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who pledged to support whoever is the Republican nominee, the Texas senator would not directly answer the same question posed by CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview Monday. Pence did so, however, while lavishing extensive praise on Trump.
“If I win IN essentially even the pundits are saying it’s over”, said Donald Trump, (R) Presidential Candidate.
No one really knows what that would look like, how it would work or how Mr Trump would react to being robbed of the nomination by the party machine. As Cruz continues to win these contests, the need for Trump to secure 1237 bound delegates for the first vote in Cleveland becomes even more critical.
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Kornacki wrote of Indiana: “It’s hard to overstate the importance of this state”.
