US primaries: has Trump run out of gas?

Donald Trump’s race for the White House has suffered a setback, with rival candidate Ted Cruz winning the primary contest in the mid-western state of Wisconsin. Trump remains in the lead of the contest to be selected as the Republican candidate for president, but he is still short of an overall majority.

Losing Wisconsin deprives Trump of the state’s votes at the party convention which will select the candidate – as well as boosting the number of votes committed to Cruz, his main rival. Cruz is picking up support from those who are looking for a “stop Trump” candidate, and there are also signs that party voters are tiring of Trump’s simplistic message, extremist pledges and a rising number of gaffes.

It is now highly probable that no candidate will command an overall majority at the Republican convention. However, Trump does not need an absolute majority of delegates to be able to win. Recent changes to party rules mean that delegates committed to candidates who have dropped out of the race since their state voted, or who come in third place or below, may not be able to cast votes for an alternative candidate of their own choice. On the other hand, delegates to the convention can change the rules by which the convention operates. Anything could happen.

Trump may be popular with many voters, but Republican party bosses fear he could not win the presidential elections – opinion polls show he is very unlikely to beat Hillary Clinton. If they can stop Trump, a man who has refused to condemn the racist Ku Klux Klan, the world will breathe a sigh of relief.

•Wisconsin also delivered a surprise in the Democratic contest, with Bernie Sanders turning out a strong showing to win the state decisively against Hillary Clinton. With the final result yet to be declared, it looks as if he will pick up around 60% of the state’s delegates to the Convention, with Clinton down to 40%. The next state to vote is Wyoming, and Sanders is stressing that the Wisconsin result shows that his campaign is the one with a positive momentum. However, Clinton’s lead from earlier primaries is substantial, and it is likely that she will hang on to enough delegates to win the nomination.

[Adverts]

•See our article on Donald Trump’s islamophobia:
https://eastlondonnews.co.uk/trump-says-ban-muslims-in-campaign-ad/