Voting underway in crucial test for President hopefuls

Voters began going to the polls on Tuesday in five make-or-break presidential nominating contests, with Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton seeking to tighten their grip as their party’s front runners.

Polls opened at 1030 GMT in the states of North Carolina and Ohio, and at 1100 GMT in Florida, Illinois and Missouri, in an event dubbed “Super Tuesday 2.0.”

Mr Trump is seeking to push one or two of his rivals out of the race, while Ms Clinton hopes to fend off a resurgent Bernie Sanders and assert her claim as the party’s all-but-certain presidential nominee.

“I love you Ohio. You can make the difference!” Mr Trump said at a late Monday rally at the Youngstown airport — a last minute push which suggested that he viewed the Midwestern state as his closest of the five races.

Violent clashes and protests at Mr Trump’s rallies over the weekend dominated US headlines, with rivals in both parties accusing the billionaire real estate mogul of creating a toxic campaign environment.

The latest polls showed the Republican frontrunner poised to win the Tuesday contests, although Ohio’s governor John Kasich held a narrow lead in his state in some surveys. A Kasich victory in Ohio may be the last chance to derail Mr Trump’s march to July’s Republican nomination, especially as Tuesday marks the point when the party moves to a winner-takes-all format in terms of the delegates accorded for each primary win.

Mr Trump struck a blue-collar tone as he urged Ohio to reject its popular governor, saying he was better positioned to re-invigorate the state’s struggling economy.

“Your steel industry is dead,” Mr Trump said. “I’m going to bring your industry back.”

Among Democrats, if polls prove accurate, Mr Clinton will extend her lead over rival Mr Sand-ers. She is comfortably ahead in Florida, but in Ohio the former secretary of state only held a five-point lead, according to a Quinnipiac University poll out on Monday.

Mr Sanders campaigned in Ohio on Monday. The self-described Democratic Socialist drew some 2,000 people at a rally in You-ngstown where he slamm-ed “disastrous” US trade policies over the past 20 years that he said had cost America “millions of decent paying jobs”.

A win for Mr Trump, as latest polls indicate, could very well bring the billionaire real estate magnate very closer to the magical figure of 1,237 delegates needed the win the party’s presidential nomination for the November 8 election.

Given his election rhetoric which has rattled the Republican establishment and the Opposition Democratic presidential aspirants, Mr Trump could make it one of the most polarised elections in American history.

Mr Trump, who has so far won primaries and ca-ucuses in 14 states is said to be the favourite in Flo-rida, North Carolina, Illin-ois and Missouri, while in Ohio he is engaged in a neck and neck fight with Mr Kasich, 63.

In Florida 99 delegates are at stake while in Ohio 66 delegates. Illinois has 69 and Missouri has 52 delegates. In all more than 360 delegates are at stake on Super Tuesday 2.0.