Trump takes S Carolina, Hillary wins in Nevada
The Republican wins 32.5% of votes, narrow victory for the Democrat
SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton won the Republican and Democratic nominating contests on Saturday, solidifying their respective claims over their party’s presidential nominations.
Significantly for Republicans, Jeb Bush ended his campaign after another poor show, clearing the way, experts said, for the consolidation of establishment votes against Trump.
Trump won the South Carolina primary getting 32.5% of the votes, Marco Rubio was second with 22.5%, followed closely by Ted Cruz with 22.3%. Bush was fourth with 7.8%. In Nevada, which caucused, Clinton won 52.7% of the votes to Sanders’s 47.2%.
The score, so far, in the 2016 presidential election primaries/ caucuses: Among Republicans, Trump has won two states, New Hampshire and South Carolina; and Ted Cruz one, Iowa.
On the Democratic side, Clinton has won two—both caucus es, Iowa and Nevada, and Bernie Sanders, her only rival in the field now, one, in New Hampshire.
The remaining five Republicans in the race now move to Nevada for the party’s caucuses on Tuesday, and the two Democrats come to South Carolina for a primary on Saturday. Trump is the overwhelming favourite in Nevada leading his nearest rival, Cruz, 42% to 20%, in the average of polls, with Marco Rubio a close third.
And Clinton leads Sanders 57.4% to 33.3% in South Carolina. But Sanders has, so far, shown a tendency to narrow the gap in closing days, as he has done before in both Iowa and Nevada.
Sanders pointed that out in his concession speech on Saturday night. “Five weeks ago we were 25 points behind and we ended up in a very close election,” he said.
For the moment, Trump and Clinton appear set to win the next round as well, according to polls.
After thanking cheering supporters and volunteers at his campaign headquarters in Spartanburg, Trump pumped them up for Nevada, “Let’s have a big win in Nevada. Let’s have a big win at SEC (Super Tuesday on March 1, when 11 states hold their primaries).”
Trump didn’t forget to take a swipe at Nikki Haley, the Indian -American governor of South Carolina who endorsed Rubio and had attacked Trump earlier.
In her victory speech, Clinton made the same pitch she has made before to differentiate herself from Sanders, saying it’s not enough to be angry .“So Americans, Americans are right to be angry. But we’re also hungry for real solutions.”