AFP, Youngstown :
The six remaining White House hopefuls made a frantic push for votes Monday on the eve of make-or-break nominating contests, with Donald Trump’s Republican rivals desperate to bar his path after a weekend of violence on the campaign trail.
Dubbed “Super Tuesday 2” by US media, the latest major date in the run-up to November’s presidential election will see Democratic and Republican primary contests in the states of Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.
Violent clashes and protests at Trump rallies over the weekend dominated US headlines, with rivals in both parties accusing the billionaire real estate mogul of creating a toxic campaign environment.
But the latest polls showed the Republican frontrunner in a position to win every state except Ohio, where John Kasich, the state’s governor, holds a slender lead in some surveys.
A Kasich victory in Ohio may be the last chance to derail Trump’s march to the Republican nomination in July, especially as the party moves to a winner-takes-all format in terms of the delegates accorded for each primary win.
Florida, Illinois and Ohio are the biggest prizes on Tuesday because each state offers a high number of delegates.
In a sign of the stakes involved, Trump cancelled a rally Monday in Florida, where he has a 20-point lead over Florida Senator Marco Rubio, to campaign in Ohio.
Also campaigning in Ohio was Senator Bernie Sanders, who drew about 2,000 people at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio in his bid to stop Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who is poised to extend her lead if polls prove accurate.
Clinton is easily ahead in Florida, but Ohio appeared to be a tougher contest, where the former secretary of state only held a five-point lead, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released Monday.
