Donald Trump wins Republican primary in Arkansas
Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Arkansas, according to the Associated Press.
The victory adds to Trump's tally of Super Tuesday victories. The billionaire has won Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Massachusetts, and Virginia so far this evening, while Cruz has only won Texas and Oklahoma. Marco Rubio and the other candidates haven't won a state yet.
Arkansas has a lot of Cruz-friendly evangelical voters
Ted Cruz's campaign has focused on wooing evangelical voters whose socially conservative views line up well with Cruz's own politics. Cruz has argued that he is a much better choice for religious conservatives than the thrice-married, casino-owning Trump.
Evangelical voters helped to power Cruz's victory in the Iowa caucuses last month, and they powered Cruz's victory over Trump in Oklahoma today. But Cruz's loss in Arkansas, another state with a lot of evangelicals, suggests that his popularity with religious conservatives will only take him so far.
Trump is riding a nationwide wave of popularity
We won't know the full results from Tuesday's votes until Wednesday morning, but all signs suggest that Trump will do well overall. Trump has already won Tennessee, Massachusetts, Virginia, Alabama and Georgia — in addition to states one before Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has only won three states so far, and, unlike Trump, his appeal outside heavily evangelical regions appears limited. So while Cruz is exceeding expectations in some states, he doesn't appear to have a path to winning a majority of delegates.
No matter how well he does on Tuesday, Trump won't yet have enough votes to clinch the Republican nomination. But if Trump's showing in the Super Tuesday primaries is as strong as the polls suggest, it will be astrong start to a crucial 15-day period that could effectively determine the winner of the Republican contest.