Ted Cruz Closing In On Donald Trump: Trump, Cruz, Rubio, And Kasich Primary Results And Delegates

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio are battling it out in the primaries. Ted Cruz now has 295 delegates, while Donald Trump still leads with 378 delegates. Rubio now has 123 delegates thanks to a gain in Minnesota last Tuesday that gave him 17 new delegates. There are are also a few delegates that did not go to the top three. Kasich has 34, and Carson has 8.

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio have a significant lead on all other candidates, as their campaigns take off at the expense of the others. For a while, it looked like Cruz and Rubio would be left behind as they split less than half the votes between them, while Trump was taking the lion’s share. Neither could gain an advantage over the other, but now Ted Cruz is gaining on Trump’s once impossible-to-catch lead, with 24 new delegates gained in Kansas, and 12 in Maine yesterday. Donald Trump gained 15 delegates in Louisiana, and 16 in Kentucky. The tide really turned for Cruz last Tuesday when he won all 99 of the delegates for the state of Texas. Now he is within 83 delegates of the Donald. Ted Cruz is also finally pulling out of his dead heat with Rubio and setting himself apart as the contender for Trump. Texas made a huge difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty1eETVIFMs

Though it seems Ted Cruz could gain enough of a foothold to challenge Donald Trump, it is important to remember it’s too soon to determine any sort of real trend. In order to win the nomination, a Republican candidate must have 1,237 delegates. Even Donald, the obvious front runner, needs 859 more delegates to win, so the race is not even half over. Trump, Rubio, and Cruz all still have a chance to win, because it is really early in the game.

Still, Donald Trump has the advantage of momentum, coupled with a still significant lead. Last week, forces within the Republican party, dissatisfied with the Donald as a candidate, arranged for Mitt Romney to give his opinion, in the form of an attack on Trump. Why would they do that? Because like Bernie Sanders, Donald is an outsider to the Republican party. He is not part of their plan. Of course, this is the very reason that Sanders and Trump are doing so well in this election. A large percentage of the public wants an outsider rather than a career politician.

Ted Cruz is having a hard time gaining attention, as are other Republican candidates. Both the Republicans and the Democrats are divided more than usual, but it really seems in the Republican party, the divide is between those who like the Donald and those who don’t. Rather than prefer one of the other candidates, it seems the majority of Republicans are just reacting to Trump’s latest statement. It is unclear whether voters have truly noticed Ted Cruz as a candidate, or if they are still just listening to the leading candidate’s larger than life persona, and voting against him when they don’t agree. He does know how to monopolize debates and draw media attention with his sensational statements. The question is “how do voters see Cruz and Rubio?”. Are they seeing these candidates, or are they just reacting to the one obvious candidate either positively or negatively?

Ted Cruz is in a position to challenge Donald Trump, will Republican voters recognize him as a unique primary candidate?