Donald Trump

New Jersey Voters Head to Polls as Presidential Primaries Appear Decided

New Jersey voters head to the polls Tuesday to pick their party's candidates in 12 U.S. House races and to have their voices heard in a set of presidential primaries that appear to have already been wrapped up.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has already sewed up the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination, while an Associated Press count Monday found that Hillary Clinton has commitments from the number of delegates needed to secure her party's nomination.

An AP count of pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses and a survey of party insiders known as superdelegates shows Clinton with the overall support of the required 2,383 delegates.

Voters also will be picking their party's standard bearers in U.S. House races, although no incumbents are expected to lose their contests. There are no Senate contests in the state this year.

Clinton is leading Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in New Jersey, according to recent polls. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted last month showed Clinton leading Sanders by 14 points. That poll surveyed 1,989 people and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. [[382026191, C]]

Clinton also has deep connections in the state and the support of most of the state's Democratic congressional delegation and party chairmen in all of the state's counties. She won in the state against Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential primary.

Trump, who picked Christie to lead his presidential transition team, has not campaigned in the state aside from fundraising events that benefited Christie's presidential campaign and the state GOP last month.

By far, New Jersey's biggest bloc of voters are unaffiliated with either party. State data released in April show 2.6 million voters were unaffiliated, compared to 1.8 million Democrats and about 1.1 million Republicans. Unaffiliated voters can choose a party at their polling place Tuesday to vote in New Jersey's closed primaries. It's too late for voters to switch parties.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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