A worry for the Clinton campaign is that the former secretary of state could lose her grip on the black vote, a constituency long seen as a firewall in the Democratic primary.
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For Trump, the brash real estate magnate and television personality who has never held public office, the win was an important rebound after his loss to Texas Sen.
The first four presidential contests are mainly about winnowing.
As a result, Rubio faces an uphill fight in the upcoming SC primary and Nevada caucuses. About a third of the voters listed that as their top priority, the most frequently mentioned attribute, and just 13 percent of them supported Trump.
Hors d’oeuvres were passed around and the beer flowed as the real-estate mogul trounced his rivals, winning 35 percent of the vote – a 20-point margin from his nearest rival, the gentler John Kasich, governor of OH, in the biggest statistical victory the state has handed to a Republican in 16 years.
Trump, meanwhile, reverted to form, telling his supporters, in what amounts to the Trumpian ethos, “We are going to make our country so strong”. Had Rubio received scrutiny earlier, voters might have been able to find a candidate who didn’t wilt in the spotlight. The campaign on Wednesday released a radio ad featuring former President George W. Bush endorsing his brother. He told supporters that instead of going to SC, he’ll head home to “take a deep breath” and take stock of his struggling presidential bid. And Trump, who finished in second place in the Iowa caucuses, is about to enter a series of contests in which he has consistently and without interruption topped the polls: in SC, where he maintains a double-digit lead, and in Nevada, where the NY businessman maintains multiple properties.
The Florida Senator stumbled badly during the last Republican debate, repeating the exact same phrase multiple times under pressure from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. But since then, many of its victors have fizzled.
In a sign of Trump’s impact on the race, two-thirds of Republican voters said they support a ban on Muslims entering the USA, a position the billionaire outlined past year amid rising fears of terrorism emanating from the Middle East. He appeals to liberal Democrats who believe Obama hasn’t done enough to address the nation’s disparity in wealth.
“The nomination will very likely be won in March, not February”, campaign manager Robby Mook said in a memo sent to reporters.
The results also left Republicans, once again, without a consensus alternative to Trump – and with dwindling hope of finding one. Voters here are infamously late deciders, they cautioned, creating havoc for those in search of an accurate snapshot of the state’s electorate.
With populations that are more than 90 percent white, Iowa and New Hampshire lack the diversity to be considered bellwethers in a presidential race: Minorities make up almost a quarter of the national population.
“People have every right to be angry”. They tend to favour Mrs Clinton as well.
“Hillary Clinton has been a very strong friend of Israel and that is something that should not be lost on the American Jewish community”, said Paul Hodes, a former New Hampshire congressman who came to rally for Clinton at her post-primary event.
At stake Tuesday were less than 1 percent of the delegates who, at party national conventions in July, will choose nominees to succeed Obama.
Both Hillary and Sanders have plenty of money to play seriously on Super Tuesday and through the month of March when Sanders may outperform Clinton in the Midwestern states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and in the mountain states.
Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton remain the favourites to secure their parties’ nominations.
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Kasich, Caputo contended, is another man to keep an eye on in considering who could eventually take on Trump. But since January 1 alone, the PAC has spent $3.4 million in New Hampshire on TV spots, direct mail, digital ads, data services, voter contact, and “crowd building” in support of Mr. Kasich, and in opposition to his rivals, according to Federal Election Commission data analyzed by Ad Age. But this kind of win guarantees at least a few things – that the race is going to last for a while and that Sanders’s message, which is attracting many millions of small donors and many millions of dollars, will get heard.
