The path is clear for Donald Trump to clinch the Republican presidential nomination following his string of victories at the start of the presidential primary contests, according to polls surveying upcoming state's races, Business Insider reported.
Thirteen states hold primaries or caucuses in the next two weeks with Trump leading polls in nine big states, including some of the key winner-take-all states, according to the RealClearPolitics average.
The numbers for all these nine states holding primaries from March 5 to March 15 all show Trump ahead of his rivals, based on individual polls or RealClearPolitics polling averages.
● On Saturday, March 5, Kansas will hold its Republican caucus where 40 delegates are at stake. Trump is up 12 points here.
● On the same day, Kentucky and Louisiana will hold their Republican primaries. Forty-five delegates are at stake in Kentucky where Trump is up 13 points.
● Forty-seven delegates are at stake in Louisiana where Trump is up 19 points.
● On Tuesday, March 8, Michigan and Mississippi will hold their Republican primaries. In Michigan, 59 delegates are at stake for the winner. Trump is up 15.4 points here.
● In Mississippi, 40 delegates are up for grabs. Trump is up 24 points here.
● On March 15, four states—Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio—hold their Republican primaries. The biggest prize is in Florida where the winner will take all its 99 delegates. Trump is up 18.7 points—well ahead of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
● Illinois has 69 delegates up for grabs. Trump is up 15.5 points here.
● North Carolina offers 72 delegates. Trump is up 10.3 points here as well.
● Ohio has 66 delegates all going to the winner. Trump is up five points ahead of Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
In total, nearly 600 delegates are up for grabs in the next two weeks — about half of what is needed to secure the Republican nomination — in the above nine states.
An additional number of 150 delegates are at stake in the four states that lack polling, plus the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, which also hold elections.
Business Insider noted, however, that polls are not always reliable in predicting the winners.
Trump has so far lost in four GOP races where polls had shown he was ahead. In the first Republican contest held in Iowa, Trump was leading in most polls, but Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas eventually won.
Trump was also leading in polls before Super Tuesday in Minnesota, where he lost to Rubio. He was also ahead in Oklahoma and Alaska but eventually lost to Cruz.
Conversely, Cruz was leading in polls in Arkansas but eventually lost to Trump.
But polls have been accurate in predicting Trump's victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, Vermont, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Tennessee.
