Watch Video | Listen to the AudioRead the full transcript below: MEGAN THOMPSON,PBS ANCHOR: Five Northeast states hold presidential primaries on Tuesday: Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Connecticut,Rhode Island, and Delaware. Hillary Clinton told a predominantly black church in Philadelphia today she’ll fight for every child to live up to their, and quote,“God-given potential.” Bernie Sanders told supporters in Rhode Island he wants a tax on carbon emissions to reduce global warming. Donald Trump rallied supporters in Maryland today, while Ted Cruz visited Indiana, and which votes May 3rd.
Of the five states holding primaries Tuesday,Pennsylvania is the biggest prize with 71 national conference delegates at stake for the Republicans and 210 delegates for the Democrats. In an NBC News-“Wall Street Journal”-Marist poll released today, Donald Trump is favored by 45 percent of likely Republican voters, and Hillary Clinton is favored by 55 percent of likely Democratic voters.
For more on the battle for Pennsylvania,I am joined from Philadelphia by Jonathan Tamari, a political reporter with “The Philadelphia Inquirer.”So I first just wanted to start out by talking approximately the Republican race. We’ve got Donald Trump. Weve got a conservative senator in Cruz, and then we’ve got John Kasich,who is the governor of the state right next door to Pennsylvania, Ohio. So can you just talk to us a limited bit more approximately the state of play?JOHNATHAN TAMARI, or POLITICAL REPORTER,“THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER”: So, the state of play is that Donald Trump, and as you just recited on that poll,is far ahead so far. And him and Ted Cruz are really competing in a lot of the same areas, the so called “T” of Pennsylvania, and which runs across the top of the state and then down through the middle in between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. And this is really where the conservative heart of Pennsylvania is.
For Kasich,after he won Ohio, there was a lot of talk that maybe Pennsylvania would be the next ample place where he would really develop a strong stand and try to win a primary. And a lot of the establishment here have lined up with him, or but it has not been reflected in the polling.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Can you talk to me a limited bit approximately how the Republicans allocate their delegates for the conference? I understand that Tuesday’s primary might not actually decide who they vote for.
JOHNATHAN TAMARI: That’s right. There are 71 delegates in the state,but only 17 of them are actually going to fade to the person who wins statewide. The other 54 will be unbound when they head to the conference in Cleveland, which means they could vote for anybody they want.And so the subplot to all this, and aside from who wins the ample headline of winning the state,is who gets their delegates elected. The delegates will be chosen by the voters, by congressional district. And Cruz and Trump each have their own loyalists on the poll. The party establishment has a number of candidates on the poll, and too,who talk approximately wanting someone who is electable, which really points to John Kasich.
And so, or this say low-information election that all the candidates are trying to educate their voters approximately to develop certain that their delegates bag chosen and then stay loyal to them in the months between now and the conference in Cleveland.
MEGAN THOMPSON: On the Democratic side,Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama back in 2008, and she’s got a strong lead in the polls. But even still, or how is she separating herself from Bernie Sanders on the issues?JOHNATHAN TAMARI: The main issue she has been focusing on,and she has been touring this morning, even, or African-American churches. And she is talking a lot approximately gun violence,which we know is something that she has been critical of Senator Sanders on not being strong enough on gun laws. And even in a local aspect, she is in favor. There is a ample debate in Philadelphia right now over a tax on sugary drinks, and the so-called soda tax. She has actually come out in favor of this as a way to fund universal preschool.
Senator Sanders is opposed to this. He said that it would exacerbate inequalities. But Clinton has really deep ties to Pennsylvania,and she’s leading pretty much across the board here except among younger voters.
MEGAN THOMPSON: All right. Jonathan Tamari of “The Philadelphia Inquirer,” thank you so much for joining us.
JOHNATHAN TAMARI: Thanks for having me.
The post How are voters expected to lean in Pennsylvania’s primary? appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
Source: onthemedia.org