Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be looking to deliver a knockout punch to their respective rivals on Tuesday as voters in Indiana head to the polls.
Usually considered an afterthought in most presidential elections, Indiana is finding itself in uncharted territory: Making a YUGE difference in this year’s presidential cycle.
Here are five things to watch during Tuesday’s primary in the Hoosier State:
1. Will this be game over for Ted Cruz?
Cruz and the Stop Trump movement need a good showing in Indiana. Going into Tuesday’s primary, Trump has 996 delegates, while Cruz has 565, according to the Associated Press. Coming off a huge win in the Northeast, Trump could sweep all of Indiana’s 57 delegates, of which 30 are allocated to the statewide winner and 27 are awarded to the congressional district winner. If that happens, it would be virtually impossible to stop him from clinching the GOP nomination before the party’s national convention in Cleveland.
2. Can Donald Trump win over evangelicals?
Indiana, a conservative Midwestern state, is much closer in ideology to Cruz than Trump. But a new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll shows Trump leading with a 15-point margin. If Trump wins big in Indiana — where more than a quarter of the population identifies as white evangelical protestants — it could bolster Trump’s candidacy and help fight the perception among some that he is a RINO, Republican in Name Only.
3. Will Bernie Sanders come back from the dead?
Even though recent polls show Sanders and Clinton in a statistical dead heat in the Hoosier State, things are not looking good for Sanders. Even a big win in Indiana will likely not be enough to change the narrative. As things stand, Sanders would need to win more than 90 percent of every remaining contest to win the nomination. Still, a significant win in Indiana could help his case as he tries to convince superdelagates to jump ship.
4. Can Clinton win over Sanders’ supporters?
While Clinton has said time and again that she has 2.5 million more votes than Sanders so far, the Vermont senator has been particularly popular among white working class voters, an essential bloc for any candidate looking ahead towards the general election. Clinton did well in that category in Pennsylvania, where she split the white blue-collar vote with Sanders. But she’ll need to do that again in Indiana to show it wasn’t a fluke.
5. Will anyone drop out?
The short answer is, probably not. Despite the fact that the Associated Press essentially declared Clinton the winner of the Democratic primary last month, Sanders has vowed to stay in the race until the bitter end. But more losses for him could translate into less checks from supporters. The senator from Vermont has already seen a 40 percent drop in donations in April. He still has enough cash on hand to last him through the primaries. But another big loss in Indiana could add more pressure to step aside.
In the Republican race, more of the same. Both Kasich and Cruz have made it clear they intend to keep running, if only to stop Trump from reaching the magic number needed to clinch the nomination. But if Trump wins big in Indiana Tuesday, that would be all but impossible.