On 26 April 2016, US primaries once again took place in the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. It confirmed the trend of the primary earlier in New York. As expected, Donald Trump won all states in the Republican contest. His victory however turned out bigger as expected since even his two opponents together did not even get close to Trump's victory percentages. Prior to the elections, they had declared to cooperate on beating Trump. None of them won a state however nor sufficient delegates, making the chances of a "contested convention" slimmer. Hillary Clinton also beat Bernie Sanders in all states except for Rhode Island, ending the momentum Bernie Sanders had for a while. The latter has also acknowledged a victory would be impossible at this stage, however wants to go on to have as much influence as possible with his self-declared "revolution" to change politics in the Democratic Party and bring about a shift of policies to the left.

Polls for following primaries in Indiana, New Jersey and the big state of California also indicate both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will secure victories there. Therefore, the odds as stated before are very high the eventual face-off during the presidential elections will be between the two of them. Bernie Sanders however on the one hand, is trying to get as much influence possible before Hillary Clinton finally claims the last needed delegates, something for which he has the resources as well in terms of money and supporters, in order to make the Democrat Party shift more to the left. On the other hand, the Republican establishment, as well as the remaining contenders in the Republican race are trying to avoid an outright victory by Donald Trump, to prevent his nomination at the mentioned "contested convention".

The primaries have been unprecedented and remarkable so far, as outsiders such as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, initially suggested to have no chance of clinching either the Republican or Democrat nominations, have fared much better then expected. This has been the case especially in the Republican race, as the blunt and populist Donald Trump is close to securing the nomination, while being trailed by Ted Cruz, a member of the Tea Party, that brought about a shift of policies to the conservative right before in the Republican Party. Furthermore, another outsider such as Ben Carson also fared well for a long time. Despite attempts by the Republican establishment to stop Trump, they have failed and his victory could shake up the political party, whether he wins eventually or not. Bernie Sanders, while basically having no more chance to win, did way better expected, especially among young voters, and is considered as an outsider as well. The latter preached a lot more left wing policies that some perceive as socialist and radical. However he did manage to make Clinton shift more to the left, and is likely to change the Democrat Party and its political agenda as well, even if he loses. In any case, a historical presidential election is expected for November this year.

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For an overview of next primaries to be held click here.
For an explanation on primaries in general click here.

For latest polls on the Republican candidates click here.
For latest polls on the Democrat candidates click here.

For an explanation on how a "contested convention" would work click here.