Republicans will award 595 delegates in 11 state races, with 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. The New York businessman ended the night with 46 percent of support, while Rubio came in at 24 percent and Cruz at 21 percent.
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But Trump also suggested that could change Thursday during CNN’s Republican presidential debate in Houston.
For his part, the NY billionaire predicted the relative civility between Rubio and himself is about to disappear.
Trump is riding high after winning easily in Nevada – his third consecutive victory in an early-state nominating contest – and strengthening his position heading into the multi-state Super Tuesday elections.
Cruz, the only candidate to best Trump so far, entered the race as the standard-bearer of conservative Republicans and evangelical Christians, but those groups have not rallied to his campaign since his win in Iowa. It’s not just his home state, but a delegate bounty, too.
Rubio said that the majority of Republican voters were not on Donald Trump’s side. “That’s a daunting task”.
Finishing at the bottom of the heap were retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 4.8 per cent of the vote and Ohio Governor John Kasich with 3.6 per cent.
But Rubio, who has been reluctant to publicly talk about Trump by name, stepped up his aggressiveness Wednesday. Texas, where the debate will take place, is one of those states with a March 1 primary.
The Texas senator ousted a senior aide on Monday after the aide promoted an inaccurate news report about Rubio, a turn of events that helped legitimize Trump and Rubio charges that Cruz has been running an unethical campaign.
He has gone after Mr Cruz recently, calling him a “liar” and questioning his campaign strategies.
G. Terry Madonna, the director of F&M’s Center for Politics and Public Affairs and the statewide poll, said Trump’s lead is smaller here than in most states because of the “nature of our electorate” and key endorsements of Rubio and Kasich from Pennsylvania leaders. “We certainly need to elect someone who’s prepared to be president in a thoughtful and serious and important way, given the threats this country faces”, Rubio said.
“They keep forgetting that when people drop out, we’re going to get a lot of votes”, he said. He avoided a similar mistake in the subsequent debate, but critics in both parties will be laser-focused on anything that suggests the 44-year-old legislator isn’t sufficiently prepared to move into the White House.
Marco Rubio held a narrow but decisive lead for second place over Texas Sen.
His team is convinced they must dispatch Mr Cruz before turning their full attention to taking down Mr Trump.
In the swath of “Super Tuesday” states that vote next Tuesday, and which have polls listed on RealClearPolitics, Carson is among the top three candidates in just one: Alaska. Polls show the former first lady with a huge advantage among African-Americans, which bodes well for her prospects in the southern states that vote on Super Tuesday.
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Meanwhile Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has endorsed Mrs Clinton for the presidential nomination.
