Trump Wins Big at Nevada Caucus

For those who thought Donald Trump was just a fad this election cycle, joke’s on you. The businessmogul-turned-politician has been steamrolling his competition, and his winning streak extended with the Nevada caucus last night.

Trump went into Nevada highly favored, even with impressive ground campaigns by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX). And the pundits and pollsters were right.

Trump came out on top with 45.9 percent of the vote to Rubio’s 23.1 percent and Cruz’s 21.4 percent. With barely a ground team in place in Nevada, Trump is flouting conventional political wisdom.

At the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, a triumphant Trump took the stage to thunderous applause. With his usual bravado, Trump thanked his supporters and said he plans to keep on winning all the way to the White House, including taking Rubio’s home state of Florida and Cruz’s Texas.

“We won the evangelicals,” Trump said in his brief victory speech. “We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.” And apparently the poorly educated love Trump, too.

The large voter turnout – completely unexpected – worked to Trump’s advantage. Not only did he run away with the votes, he even lead with evangelicals, Cruz’s core voting block. Trump also did well with Hispanic voters, a big deal considering both Rubio and Cruz are of Hispanic decent and Trump’s biggest idea involves building a wall at the Mexico border. Rubio did manage to pick up many of the previously undecided voters and several key endorsements, but Trump was still triumphant.

At the current tally, Trump leads the Republican primary with 81 delegates, with Rubio and Cruz tied in second place, both with 17 delegates. Trump’s next big test will be Super Tuesday held on March 1, where delegates for several key states , including Cruz’s Texas, will be up for grabs.