Will Trump momentum continue?
Crucial contests to be held today
REPUBLICAN presidential front-runner Donald Trump had his last day of campaigning yesterday before a potentially crucial round of nominating contests as tensions swirled following clashes with protesters at his rallies.
The billionaire businessman’s campaign stops have been marked by outbreaks of shouting and shoving between Trump supporters and a stream of protesters, who have sought to disrupt the events because of what they decry as his bigoted rhetoric.
While Trump’s campaign has taken unusual twists and turns, it veered into new territory over the weekend. He cancelled a big rally in Chicago over security after protesters swarmed the event on Friday, sparking clashes.
He was rushed by a man on an Ohio stage and repeatedly blamed Democratic rival Bernie Sanders for the protesters’ actions.
Trump refused to take responsibility for the rise in tensions.
His stance and the protests add a new twist to nominating contests in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio today, another key day for both Republicans and Democrats seeking their parties’ nominations for the November 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.
After a strong start that has surprised veteran campaign watchers, Trump leads in delegates over second-placed Ted Cruz, the US senator from Texas, and could seize control of the race with big wins today.
Political analysts are hesitant to say whether Trump’s advance to the nomination might be slowed by the charged events at his rallies. “It will help Trump among hard-core Republicans and hurt him among independents,” Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster, said.
“It will help him among those who resent the left and . . . their disruptions.
“But it will hurt him among independents who don’t like the chaos and the confusion.”
Polls showed Trump holding firm leads in all the states voting today other than Ohio, where he was tied with that state’s governor, John Kasich, who needs to win in his home state to stay in the race.
US senator Marco Rubio, a favourite of the party establishment, has staked his survival in the campaign on defying polls and winning in his home state of Florida.
On the Democratic side, former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton has a decent chance to pull away from Sanders today.
But her loss to him last week in Michigan underscores the left-leaning senator’s ability to surprise.
