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North Carolina Has A Serious Amount Of Delegates

by Lauren Barbato

On Tuesday, citizens in North Carolina will cast their votes in their state's 2016 presidential primary, which has become a showdown between Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side, and Donald Trump and everyone else for the Republicans. Currently, Trump has won the most delegates on the GOP side, while Clinton leads Sanders among the Democratic delegates. So how many delegates are up for grabs in North Carolina on Tuesday? It turns out that the state is a pretty delegate-heavy for both parties.

While Super Tuesday may have already come and go, there's still "Mega Tuesday," which has the second-most number of delegates on the line. In addition to North Carolina, presidential candidates will be engaged in battles in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, and Missouri — and none of those states should be overlooked. While most pundits will be watching Ohio and Florida, North Carolina has become an important stumping ground for presidential candidates.

There's a good reason for that. For the Republicans, North Carolina offers 72 delegates, while the Democrats have 107. However, North Carolina is not a "winner-take-all" state, which can make the math a bit complicated. Overall, there are more than 1,000 pledged delegates among the Republicans and Democrats combined at stake on Tuesday.

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According to The Charlotte Observer, Trump and Clinton currently have overwhelming leads in North Carolina heading into Tuesday's primary. The latest poll from High Point University found that the business mogul has won over 48 percent of the Republican vote, with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas coming in second with 28 percent. Meanwhile, Clinton is leading Sanders 58 percent to 34 percent among likely Democratic voters.

And North Carolina seems pretty settled — for now, at least. FiveThirtyEight forecasts that Clinton has a 99 percent chance of winning the North Carolina primary, while Trump has an 89 percent chance of taking it for the Republicans. Polling data accumulated by Real Clear Politics also shows Clinton and Trump in the lead among their respective parties. Still, Trump could falter following the backlash over the growing unrest disrupting his campaign rallies. Earlier this week, an African-American man was punched in the face by a white Trump supporter at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, sparking nationwide outrage. On Friday, a Trump campaign event in Chicago was canceled after the candidate's supporters clashed with protesters, igniting brawls. The violence has been condemned by Trump's presidential challengers, who are looking to usurp the billionaire from his throne on top of the GOP race.