Photo via The Atlantic
The Democratic and Republican primary season has thinned out the herd, most recently on the Re-publican side with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush dropping out after a less than stellar performance in the South Carolina primary. The next contests are setting the stage for a long battle in both parties as candidates fight to win key delegate votes in upcoming contests.
Republicans will square off against one another in “Super Tuesday” next week, a day that hosts 11 primary elections in different states. Following a dominant win in Ne-vada, Trump currently leads most polls of Republican candidates, with the remaining candidates jockeying for second place. Currently, Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida most viciously fight that battle.
For the Democrats, Saturday’s South Carolina primary is the next step towards the nomination. After a win in Nevada, Clinton leads Sanders in the polls with 56% and Sanders trailing by 26 points fall-ing in at 32% in South Carolina, according to a poll conducted by the Washington Post and Huffington Post. While Sanders has continued to tote his rising poll numbers, a Politico article published earlier this week notes that Sanders has essentially conceded a loss in South Carolina and will look to gain more traction against Clinton on “Super Tuesday.”
With the first contests already completed and important primary dates coming up for both parties, it is important to look at where the candidates stand not in the polls, but in their progress to actually securing the nomination. On the Republican side, the required number needed to secure the nomination is 1,237 delegates. The Associated Press reports that Trump leads Republicans with 82 delegates, Cruz with 17, Ru-bio at 16, Ohio Governor John Kasich at 6 and former neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson at 4.
On the Democratic side, the party is using “superdelegates.” These superdelegates can include prominent party leaders, elected officials in individual states or members of Congress. These superdelegates have the ability to support any candidate they wish. With the influence of the super-delegates, Clinton leads with 505 delegates to Sanders’ 71. For the Democratic candidates, they need 2,383 overall delegates to win the nomination