Ted Cruz cinched double-barreled victories in Kansas and ME, and Republican front-runner Donald Trump captured Louisiana on Saturday, fresh evidence that there’s no quick end in sight to the fractious GOP race for president.
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That puts the pressure on Rubio and Kasich to prevail over Trump in winner-take-all contests in their delegate-rich home states of Florida and OH, respectively, in order to stay in the race. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has emerged as the chief contender with Trump for the nomination, but he is running in third in both states, according to the new Fox polls, with 19% in OH and 16% in Florida.
Trump congratulated Cruz for his victories.
Possible Cruz supporters include reluctant Senate colleagues and former presidential rivals with strong ties to major donors, who have long feared Cruz’s purist ideology but dread the prospect of a Trump nomination even more.
Republicans voted Tuesday in four different states, in an election that’s largely turned into a race between Donald Trump and whichever candidate can prove himself as the best anti-Trump nominee.
Saturday’s GOP contests also included ME and Louisiana, while Democrats voted in Nebraska, Kansas and Louisiana.
The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted – via landline and cell phone interviews – among 397 Republican primary voters from March 3-6, and it has a margin of error of plus-minus 4.9 percentage points. It’s her 11th state win in the 2016 presidential race.
The two Cruz wins boosted his delegate total to 267, while Rubio had 116 and Kasich languished with just 28.
Cruz captured the Idaho primary in the west of the country. But either Kasich, Cruz, or both might also be reasonably expected to overperform by winning the remaining undecided voters.
But Cruz suggested it was time for Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich to go. Vermonter Sanders, trailing far behind Clinton in the delegate count, had higher hopes of making progress in Nebraska and Kansas, where the Democratic electorate is less diverse.
Rubio, whose campaign is fighting for survival after a series of disappointing performances in nominating contests for the November 8 election, has drawn fire for a line of attack in recent weeks in which he got personal with Trump.
“We’re going to win in Ohio”.
“No matter who wins this Democratic nomination, I have not the slightest doubt that on our worst day we will be infinitely better than the Republicans on their best day”, the former First Lady stated, as reported by BBC.
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But nonetheless, Trump managed to snatch up victories in Mississippi, Michigan and Hawaii – key wins ahead of the March 15 primaries in OH and Florida, an event that will determine the fates of Florida Sen. Hillary Clinton may come out of Super Saturday having added to her delegate lead.
