Trump and Clinton win; Bush drops out

In the latest of a string of underwhelming primary finishes the former Florida governor took fourth place with 7.8 per cent of the vote in SC, where Donald Trump breezed across the finish line with 33 per cent. Marco Rubio appears to have edged out Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Fla. Sen. Clinton’s win means she will pick up at least 18 of Nevada’s 35 delegates. And he needs his wins, soon, since his delegate path involves sweeping through the South on March 1 to build up a lead that positions him as the frontrunner heading into the big winner-take-all states coming on March 15.

With former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush dropping out of the race earlier in the night, Cruz made a play for his supporters, praising him for not taking his campaign into the gutter.

“I’m proud of the campaign that we’ve run to unify our country and to advocate conservative solutions”, a visibly emotional Bush said.

Donald Trump won in huge numbers tonight in SC, even taking the areas that were thought would go to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

Trump gained an endorsement from South Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster in January, far ahead of the state’s primary.

Cruz congratulated Trump on his win, but said that anyone who doesn’t believe Trump is the best candidate to defeat expected Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton should join his effort.

Republican Jeb Bush ended his campaign for the presidency Saturday after a disappointing finish in SC, acknowledging a failure to harness the hopes of Republican voters angry at the political establishment. Kasich says he does not expect to win the SC primary but does intend to continue with his campaign. Bernie Sanders, (I-Vt.), in the Nevada Democratic caucuses Saturday, a win seen as a much-needed boost to the former secretary of state’s presidential aspirations.

Seven in 10 SC voters described themselves as born-again Christians and over 4 in 10 said it matters a great deal that a candidate shares their religious beliefs – both increases from 2012.

Republicans are looking for clarity, and on Saturday, they got some, courtesy of SC.

This week’s nationwide Democratic poll by Quinnipiac University showed a close race overall, with Clinton leading Sanders, 44 percent to 42 percent. He also predicted that as other Republican candidates eventually drop out, many of their supporters will switch to his side. His third-place finish in Iowa got just as many headlines as Cruz and Trump, the top two Hawkeye State performers.

Mrs Clinton’s victory buoyed anxious supporters and gave her fresh momentum as she heads into the next contest in SC on February 27, where polls show her with a double-digit lead largely as a result of heavy support from black voters.

Trump won 31% of evangelical voters, according to exit polls. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson vowed to stay in the race, despite a single-digit showing.

While Carson insisted Saturday that he will not quit, his race is done.

The nation’s first Southern state primary helped launch Donald Trump to a strong victory and forced a former front-runner to drop out of the race.