(Everett Rosenfeld) Donald Trump will notch a “significant” victory in the New York GOP primary, NBC News projected Tuesday evening as polls closed. On the Democratic side, however, the race in the delegate-rich state was still too early to call as of 9 p.m. ET, according to NBC.
As of the poll closure, NBC News was allocating 55 of New York’s 95 GOP delegates to Trump. For his part, the New York-born businessman took to Twitter to celebrate the victory.
Ahead of the contests, statewide polls indicated that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Trump were both likely to win their parties’ primaries in the Empire State. But before polls closed, exit polls offered some insight into the opinions of voters turning out on Tuesday.
On the nature of this year’s race, only 39 percent of surveyed GOP primary voters said they thought it had energized their party. Instead, 57 percent reported that the Republican campaign had divided their party. And on the Democratic side, 68 percent said the race had energized their party, while only 27 percent thought the campaign had divided it, according to NBC.
And on the direction of the U.S. economy, voters in both primaries said they were concerned. Sixty-seven percent of surveyed GOP voters said they were “very worried” and 25 percent said they were “somewhat worried.” Democrats, meanwhile, registered 46 percent in the “very worried” category, and 39 percent “somewhat worried,” NBC reported.
Donald Trump will notch a “significant” victory in the New York GOP primary, NBC News projected Tuesday evening as polls closed. On the Democratic side, however, the race in the delegate-rich state was still too early to call as of 9 p.m. ET, according to NBC.
As of the poll closure, NBC News was allocating 55 of New York’s 95 GOP delegates to Trump. For his part, the New York-born businessman took to Twitter to celebrate the victory.
Ahead of the contests, statewide polls indicated that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Trump were both likely to win their parties’ primaries in the Empire State. But before polls closed, exit polls offered some insight into the opinions of voters turning out on Tuesday.
On the nature of this year’s race, only 39 percent of surveyed GOP primary voters said they thought it had energized their party. Instead, 57 percent reported that the Republican campaign had divided their party. And on the Democratic side, 68 percent said the race had energized their party, while only 27 percent thought the campaign had divided it, according to NBC.
And on the direction of the U.S. economy, voters in both primaries said they were concerned. Sixty-seven percent of surveyed GOP voters said they were “very worried” and 25 percent said they were “somewhat worried.” Democrats, meanwhile, registered 46 percent in the “very worried” category, and 39 percent “somewhat worried,” NBC reported.
Another interesting early exit poll question showed that a majority of both Democratic and Republican (64 and 51 percent, respectively) voters thought that Wall Street hurts the U.S. economy, NBC News reported.
Clinton, whose national lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has virtually disappeared in recent polls, formerly served as a senator from New York. She had enjoyed a double-digit lead of the Brooklyn-born Sanders in most pre-primary surveys.
But Sanders, speaking to a crowd in Pennsylvania before the polls closed, predicted that “we’re gonna do a lot better, I think, than people thought we would.” In fact, Sanders said earlier this month that he “will win a major victory here in New York.”
On the Republican side, Queens-born Trump has long been tied to the New York real estate market. The businessman had averaged about a 30 percentage point lead over Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who bested national front-runner Trump in several states, had usually polled behind Kasich in New York polls ahead of the primary.
But the chance of a contest convention looms over the Republican race. In the New York GOP primary, 72 percent of voters said they thought the candidate with the most votes should become their party’s nominee. Only 25 percent, according to NBC News, said the delegates should choose the party standard-bearer in the general election.
On the subject of general election viability, early exit polls showed that only 8 percent of New York GOP primary voters said that was the most important quality in a candidate. Instead, 35 percent said their chief concern is a candidate who can “bring needed change,” and 28 percent said they cared most about picking someone who “shares my values,” according to NBC News.
New York offers 291 total delegates in the Democratic race, and 95 for Republicans.