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| Eric Thayer for The New York Times |
As Ted Cruz faces a potentially candidacy-threatening contest on Tuesday in Indiana — where a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, released Sunday morning, showed him trailing Donald Trump by 15 percentage points —"An aura of inevitability is now forming around the controversial mogul. Trump smothered his opponents in six straight primaries in the Northeast and vacuumed up more delegates than even the most generous predictions foresaw. He is gaining high-profile endorsements by the day — a legendary Indiana basketball coach on Wednesday, two House committee chairmen on Thursday. And his rivals, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, are making the kind of rushed tactical moves that signal desperation.
"The party is at a turning point. Republican stalwarts opposed to Trump remain fearful of the damage the unconventional and unruly billionaire might inflict on the party’s down-ballot candidates in November. But many also now see him as the all-but-certain nominee and are exhausted by the prospect of a contested July convention, according to interviews this week with more than a dozen party figures from coast to coast.
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| Damon Winter/The New York Times |
"'People are realizing that he’s the likely nominee,' said Tim Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor and one-time endorser of Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.). 'The hysteria has died down and the range of emotion is from resignation to enthusiasm.'
"'There is an acceptance, a resignation or whatever that Trump is going to be the nominee,' former Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams said. 'More and more people hope he wins that nomination on the first ballot because they do not want to see a convention that explodes into total chaos. People just want this to be over with — and we need a nominee.'
Voters may be starting to share Mr. Trump’s reasoning that he would deserve the nomination even if he fell short of 1,237 delegates. A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that more than six in 10 Republicans believe the nominee should be the candidate with the most votes even if he does not have the support of the majority of delegates. Still, Mr. Trump’s campaign is moving to nail down the delegate commitments he would need to get a majority.
Voters may be starting to share Mr. Trump’s reasoning that he would deserve the nomination even if he fell short of 1,237 delegates. A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that more than six in 10 Republicans believe the nominee should be the candidate with the most votes even if he does not have the support of the majority of delegates. Still, Mr. Trump’s campaign is moving to nail down the delegate commitments he would need to get a majority.