New York: Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton on Tuesday looked set for solidifying their presidential front-runner status after suffering a series of losses recently as polling began in the potentially game-changing New York state primary.
All the presidential hopefuls packed in back-to-back campaign stops, making final pitches before voters ahead of the crucial primary election.
Democratic contenders Clinton and Bernie Sanders and their Republican rivals Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich toured across the state holding rallies and meeting voters yesterday, seeking to solidify their positions.
At stake are 291 Democratic delegates and 95 for Republicans.
68-year-old Clinton, the New York senator for eight years, is leading the delegate count with 1,307, while Sanders has 1,094 delegates. The one who clinches 2,383 delegates in all wins the party's nomination.
Clinton is trying to end a seven state winning streak for 74-year-old Sanders in this primary.
A total of 1,237 delegates are needed to sew up the Republican nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
Trump, 69, leads in the total delegate count with 743, followed by Cruz with 543 and Kasich with 144.
Trump, who has faced defeats at the hands of Cruz recently, is desperately trying to get enough delegates to avoid a contested convention this summer.
For Trump, a win in New York would be his first since he won the Arizona Primary on March 22.
A new NBC New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll shows Trump will garner 54 per cent of the Republican primary voters. Ohio Governor Kasich is expected to come in second, instead of Cruz.
On the Democratic side, Clinton has a double-digit lead over her competitor Vermont Senator Sanders.
However, nationally, Republican presidential front-runner Trump has the support of a record 40 per cent Republican voters while Clinton is engaged in a tough contest with Sanders, according to a latest poll.
Trump has the support of 40 per cent of the Republican primary voters and is followed closely by Senator Cruz with 35 per cent and Ohio Governor John Kasich with 24 per cent, according to a latest opinion poll by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, in the Democratic party, Sanders (46.3 per cent) has all but eliminated Clinton's (47.7 per cent) primary polling lead, it said.
While Trump would need as many votes as possible, he will not be getting two from his own family.
Since only registered voters from participating parties may vote, Trump's children Eric and Ivanka Trump missed the deadline to register with a political party, making them ineligible to cast ballots for the billionaire businessman.
Clinton sought support of the minorities and women doing her various stops across the city.
"Whether it's Chinese government policy in the past, for one child and forced abortions and sterilisation, or the policies of the communist regime in Romania, with forced childbearing, we cannot, we must not, ever let governments and politicians make those decisions," Clinton told her supporters.
"And as long as I'm around, we never will," she said.
Sanders called on New Yorkers to come out and vote, saying he needs their support to achieve job growth and hold corporations who ship jobs abroad accountable.
"My experience has been, in this campaign so far, is that we win when the turnout is high. We lose when the turnout is low. Tomorrow, let us all do everything we can to make sure that New
York State has the largest turnout in a Democratic primary in its history," Sanders told a cheering crowd in Long Island City.
"Tomorrow, New York State can help take this country a giant step forward for the political revolution. Let's do it.
"I just want to say a word to thank all of you for the courage to stand up for justice and against corporate greed," Sanders said.
"We will not tolerate large profitable corporations sending jobs to low-wage countries, throwing American workers out on the street, cutting back on health care benefits, and then paying their CEO USD 18 million a year," he said.
