Presidential Primaries and Caucuses: Trump and Clinton Lead in Arizona; Sanders and Cruz Favored in Utah
It's another round of primaries and caucuses on Tuesday with more than 100 delegates up for grabs for each major political party.
Arizona: Where the Latino Vote Is Key
Arizona offers the most delegates for both Republican and Democratic Parties on Tuesday.
In the Republican Party, 58 delegates are available and the state is a "winner take all" election, where the candidate with the most votes automatically receive all available delegates.
Based on polling data from KSAZ-Fox 10 Phoenix and Opinion Savvy, Donald Trump is likely to win the Arizona primary. In the survey, he received 45.8 percent support from the 588 respondents. Ted Cruz ranked second with a healthy 33.3 percent, or 196 voters. John Kasich ranked third with 17.1 percent, while 3.8 percent were undecided.
In the Democratic Party, Arizona offers 75 pledged delegates, which refers to non-superdelegates. Bernie Sanders has been campaigning hard in Arizona, including a trip to the border and his wife, Jane Sanders, visiting Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio regarding his questionable policies toward immigrant detainees, but polling data indicates rival Hillary Clinton may comfortably win.
According to Bruce Merill and Phoenix-based Westgroup Research's survey, conducted between March 7 and March 11, Clinton received 50 percent support to 24 percent for Sanders, but 26 percent of voters are undecided.
More than two million Latinos live in Arizona, based on 2014 data, which equals to 31 percent of the state's population. Meanwhile, more than 625,000 Latinos are registered to vote, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund but just over 433,000 are expected to cast their vote on Election Day in November.
"Sadly, Latinos in Arizona are no stranger to the sort of inflammatory rhetoric we are hearing from some of the individuals contending for our nation's highest office," stated NALEO Educational Fund Arturo Vargas. "Candidates who choose to use the Latino community as a punching bag to score political points in Arizona and nationwide do so at their own peril."
"With more than 13.1 million Latino voters expected to cast ballots in 2016, the Latino community will throw the knockout punch come Election Day," added Vargas.
Utah Caucuses
Unlike Arizona, Utah will hosts caucuses. In the Republican Party, 40 delegates are available. If a GOP candidate manages to receive 50 percent of the vote, or higher, then he will win all 40 delegates. If not, the 40 delegates will be split pending final results.
According to the Y2 Analytics survey, Cruz has leads the pack with 53 percent and could win all 40 delegates. Kasich placed second with 29 percent, while Trump was a distant third at 11 percent. The poll surveyed 500 likely Republican voters between March 17 and March 19.
For Democrats, 33 pledged delegates are available. According to Deseret News and KSL's survey, polling 194 likely voters between March 8 and March 15, Sanders holds a moderate lead over Clinton -- 52 percent to 44 percent.
Although its Latino population is smaller compared to Arizona, the rate of Latinos living in Utah is not far from the national average of 17.5 percent. With 13 percent of its population being Latino, Utah is home 147,000 Latino eligible voters, which is the 24th largest Hispanic statewide eligible voter population across the country, according to the Pew Research Center.
GOP Exclusive: American Samoa
The Republican Party's third contest on March 22 will be in American Samoa with nine delegates at stake. The American Samoa process will contested through a convention, not a primary or caucus.
Democrats Exclusive: Idaho
Democrats will have another caucus in Idaho, where 23 delegates are proportionally available. Polling data has not been available in Idaho, based on RealClearPolitics data. In regards to the Latino electorate, 12 percent of the state's population are Latino but 80,000 are eligible to vote.
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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.
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