Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the United States, Feb. 1, 2016. (Photo: Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump, of the Republican Party, and Hillary Clinton, of the Democratic Party, won big on Super Tuesday, increasing the likelihood that they will go head to head in a knock-down, drag out fight for the White House.
The two candidates saw major victories on Super Tuesday -- a key date in the presidential race involving votes in more than a dozen states. Both Trump and Clinton won in seven states Tuesday night.
"The big victories by Clinton and Trump mean in all likelihood that each will be their party's nominees for the general election," Brookings Institution's senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua. "These individuals have substantial leads over opponents and are in a great position to wrap things up by the end of March. Unless someone else runs as an independent candidate, this is likely to be the voter choice for this fall."
Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that the results of Super Tuesday make it increasingly likely that "we will see a Trump-Clinton general election."
"With almost near certainty, you can see Clinton winning the Democratic nomination, and in many ways, the competition (from rival candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders) has made (Clinton) a stronger candidate," Mahaffee said. "Trump's strength across a wide swath of states was telling as well, and if you crunch the numbers, he could secure the Republican nomination by May if he keeps winning these races by similar results."
While her campaign had some trouble early on, the former first lady and Secretary of State scored big Tuesday, particularly in Southern U.S. states, where she enjoys strong support from Afro-American voters, who in some Southern states comprise half of all Democratic voters.
While Sanders is wildly popular with white millennials, African American voters have remained loyal to Clinton, as she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had a particular affection for this most crucial political bloc.
As for Trump, the outspoken billionaire, on Tuesday moved his nomination within his grasp.
"Trump did not cement the nomination, but he is certainly now so far ahead and with such momentum that his opponents are depending on the argument that they are still viable, rather than they are the dominant candidate," Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua.
Indeed, Trump is gaining increasing momentum as his rivals Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Marco Rubio trail behind.
Zelizer added that Cruz, Rubio and Sanders will stay in the race for a while, despite falling behind.
Trump has beaten analysts' predictions again and again. While just six months ago, no one expected him to clinch the Republican nomination, that scenario now looks increasingly possible. And while just a couple of months ago analysts thought he could never beat Clinton in the general election, now analysts say he can.
"Not only is he a strong front-runner right now, he is one building the type of of coalition that should concern Democrats," Zelizer said.
Analysts, pundits and observers agree that this primary season is a far cry from any other in recent memory, with political outsiders gaining wild popularity amid voters' historically low satisfaction with Washington politicians.
Just a year ago it would have been unthinkable that self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist Sanders and brash billionaire and reality TV show star Donald Trump would gain such support among U.S. voters.
