US poll: Trump gets close to winning Republican presidential ticket

Donald Trump took another step toward clinching the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, easily sweeping Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut in the latest round of GOP primaries.

But Trump’s victories, while commanding, did not bring an end to the Republican contest. Though the real estate mogul and former reality television star was expected to take home the majority of the 172 delegates at stake in Tuesday’s voting, adding to his already sizable lead, Pennsylvania’s delegate rules stopped Trump from making a clean sweep.

While Trump won Pennsylvania’s statewide vote, clinching 17 of the state’s 71 delegates, another 54 were officially “unbound,” meaning they can make their own decision about which candidate to support at the party’s convention in July in Cleveland. That technicality gave a glimmer of hope to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who are trying to stop Trump from getting the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination before the convention.

Still, Trump characterized his wins Tuesday as proof of his unstoppable momentum. Speaking to reporters at his election night event at Trump Tower, the GOP frontrunner said he considered the race “effectively over” because Cruz and Kasich “cannot win.”

“I consider myself the presumptive nominee,” Trump said. “If you look honestly, Sen. Cruz and Gov. Kasich should really get out the race… They should get out of the race, and we should heal the Republican Party.”

Although Trump now leads Cruz by more than 300 delegates, neither the Texas senator nor Kasich seem interested in ending their quest for the White House. The contest now shifts to Indiana, a state that could make or break the #NeverTrump movement.

There, Trump narrowly leads Cruz in a state that is viewed as friendly territory for the Texas senator. And on Tuesday night, Cruz took his campaign to the New Castle Fieldhouse, the legendary home of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball team, where he cast himself as an underdog unwilling to give up the fight.

“Tonight, this campaign moves back toward favorable terrain,” Cruz declared. “There is nothing Hoosiers cannot do.”

When Trump heads to Indiana on Wednesday, he will attempt to one-up Cruz in terms of basketball pandering. He plans to campaign with former Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight, a beloved sports figure in the state who endorsed Trump several months ago.

But Trump will first make a stop in Washington, D.C., where he’s scheduled to deliver a foreign policy speech — the first of several policy speeches he has promised to make as he attempts to transition from a primary to a general election candidate.

The candidate declined to go into specifics of what exactly he would talk about Wednesday. But he did reject the idea that he will tone down his rhetoric — pushing back on his convention manager Paul Manafort’s comments to members of the Republican National Committee last week that suggested Trump is merely playing “a part” and would embrace a more “presidential” tone in the coming weeks.

“I am me. I am not playing a part,” Trump said Tuesday night, adding that he had received dozens of messages from supporters saying, “Please don’t change, please don’t change.” “If you have a football team, and you are winning… Why would I change?” he said.