5 things to watch in today’s primary elections

Five northeastern states vote today as the primary season heads into its final months.

Here’s five things to watch for in today’s elections in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

1. Does Trump continue to win big?

Republican front-runner Donald Trump cannot clinch the Republican nomination today, but if he wins all five states handily - which polls show is possible - he can strengthen his position. There are more than 170 delegates up for grabs tonight for Republicans. Big wins could put Trump close to the 1,000 mark. He is currently at 845. He needs 1,237 to get the nomination. Trump is winning the polls in all 5 states. In all of the states voting tonight Trump is winning by more than 20 points in each poll.

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2. Does Sanders keep fighting the Clinton machine?

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton can’t clinch the Democratic nomination today either, but she can get a lot closer. She has a lead of more than 200 pledged delegates over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and if you add in superdelegates her lead swells to 1,944 to 1,192, according to the Associated Press count. There’s 384 delegates at stake tonight for the Democrats. Clinton is leading in all of the polls for today’s five primaries.Connecticut looks to be the best state where Sanders can pull out a win tonight.

Here is the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls in the three biggest states voting today:

Pennsylvania: Clinton 54.3-Sanders 38.3

Maryland: Clinton 57.7-Sanders 33.7

Connecticut: Clinton 49.3-sanders 43.7

Sanders has said though that he's going through California in June. There are a few states coming up where Sanders could do well including Oregon on May 17. The 546 delegates at stake in California may be the deciding factor mathematically, but the Clinton team wants Sanders out earlier than June 7. If Clinton wins big in tonight's five contests, she will start acting even more like the nomination is won. The New York Times reported Tuesday that "Sanders and his campaign advisers plan to reassess where his candidacy stands after five states vote on Tuesday, though he is adamant that he will remain in the race until the Democratic convention this summer." Read the full story here.

3. Why does Pennsylvania have to be weird?

Donald Trump is expected to win Pennsylvania easily, even though it’s where Ohio Gov. John Kasich was raised. However, Pennsylvania has a very weird delegate system that’s complicated. The winner of the state only gets 17 of the state’s delegates. Shocking since Pennsylvania is the 6th largest state in the country. The state has 54 unbound delegates who can vote for any candidate. Those delegates are getting a lot of attention and some think they could hold the nomination in their hands. If he wins the state, especially handily, he will say that those unbound delegates should vote with the voters of their state. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kasich will have a different story for those popular delegates.

4. Kasich and Cruz won’t win any states, but could win delegates

If the polls hold, it doesn’t look like Cruz or Kasich will win any states tonight. However, in some states like Maryland, Rhode Island and Connecticut they could pick up delegates. Those states give away some delegates by congressional district. Outside of Baltimore and suburban Washington, a lot of Maryland is rural and Kasich and Cruz have campaigned hard in those areas. In Rhode Island, Cruz may not even get 10 percent of the vote which means he can’t win any of the state’s delegates. Kasich could pick some up there.

5. Focus on Indiana

Cruz and Kasich announced their alliance Monday, but said it was for the elections starting May 3. That means nothing for today’s races, but everything for Indiana. In the latest polls, Trump is about six points ahead of Cruz in Indiana. The thinking is that if Kasich stays out of Indiana, Cruz can take over Trump there. Cruz is going to stay out of Oregon which votes May 17 thinking that can help Kasich win. Tonight, Cruz and Trump will be talking to the voters in Indiana and Oregon, not the five states voting today. Those states are probably already lost.

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