US primaries: Trump, Clinton score easy wins in New York

Republican front-runner Donald Trump has scored a big win in his home state with a 60% share of the primary votes.

He is hoping a wide-margin victory will help him clinch all 95 delegates to boost his nomination for the US presidential election.

For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton also scored near to 60% in a comfortable win over Bernie Sanders.

The percentage of votes (reported below) did not change much from the initial counting, though at one stage Mr Trump led with 70% plus.

Mrs Clinton campaigned aggressively in hopes of halting Mr Sanders’ recent run of wins in eight of nine last primaries.

Second-placed Republican candidate Ted Cruz (14%) finished third behind John Kasich (23%), who has positioned himself as the moderate alternative to the other two candidates.

Mr Cruz had won a string of small victories, including Wyoming last weekend, but next Tuesday faces five more eastern states – Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island – that are also likely to be favourable to Mr Trump.

Mrs Clinton's win comes despite Mr Sanders for the first time being close to tying with Mrs. Clinton in a poll of Democratic voters nationwide.

Nevertheless, she has won most of the large, diverse states and Mr Sanders' recent wins have done little to cut into her wide margin of delegates.

After next Tuesday's primaries, just two large states remain on the Democratic calendar – California and New Jersey, which don’t vote until June.

Results:

Republicans (98.5% precincts counted)
Ted Cruz 14.5%
John Kasich 25.1% 3 delegates
Donald Trump 60.5% 89 delegates

Democrats (98.5% precincts counted)
Hillary Clinton 57.6% 135 delegates
Bernie Sanders 42.4% 104 delegates

Nevil Gibson
Wed, 20 Apr 2016

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US primaries: Trump, Clinton score easy wins in New York