New York primary: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton win on home turf

Front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton swept to victory with ease in Tuesday's New York primary, with Trump bouncing back from a difficult stretch in the Republican contest and Clinton pushing closer to locking up the Democratic nomination.

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"The race for the nomination is in the home stretch, and victory is in sight," Clinton declared to cheering supporters.

Trump captured more than 50 per cent of the vote in New York and was headed toward a big delegate haul in his home state, a commanding showing that keeps him on a path to the GOP nomination if he continues to win. He claimed at least 89 of the 95 delegates at stake Tuesday, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich winning at least three and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in danger of getting shut out.

A confident Trump insisted it was impossible for his rivals to catch him. Indeed, Cruz's poor showing in New York left him without any mathematical chance of clinching the nomination before the Republican convention in July, though Trump could still end up short of the needed 1,237 needed to seal victory before the gathering.

"We don't have much of a race anymore," he said during a victory rally in the lobby of the Manhattan tower bearing his name. His peppered his confident remarks with more references to the economy and other policy proposals than normal, reflecting the influence of a new team of advisers seeking toprofessionalizehis campaign.

'Assess where we are' next week: Sanders adviser

Clinton's triumph padded her delegate lead over Bernie Sanders, depriving him of a crucial opportunity to narrow the margin. Sanders vowed to compete through all of the voting contests, though his odds of overtaking Clinton at this stage in the race are low.

Bounding onstage with her family to the song Empire State of Mind, Clinton said "there was no place like home."

Of the 247 Democratic delegates at stake in New York, Clinton picked up at least 135 while Sanders gained at least 104. With 98 per cent of precincts reporting, Clinton had garnered over 57 per cent of the vote.

"Under the bright lights of New York, we have seen that's it not enough to diagnose problems, you have to explain how you'd actually solve the problem," said Clinton, repeating a common refrain of her campaign that her rival has many that are unworkable.

Sanders energized young people and liberals in New York, as he has across the country, but it wasn't enough to pull off the upset victory he desperately needed to change the trajectory of the Democratic race. Still, the Vermont senator vowed to keep competing.

"We've got a shot to victory," Sanders said in an interview with The Associated Press.

However, his senior adviser Tad Devine said later that the campaign planned to "sit back and assess where we are" after a string of contests next week.

Kasich finishes 2nd ahead of Cruz

On the GOP side, nearly two-thirds of New York primary voters said they want the next president to be a political outsider among the most that have said that in any state so far.

Trump also benefited from six in 10 voters who say they'd be concerned about or scared of a Cruz presidency. The surveys were conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

• Bernie Sanders wins over younger New Yorkers
• Ted Cruz campaigns awkwardly in the Empire State

As a result, Cruz found himself falling behindKasich.

Trump took in 60.5 per cent of the vote with nearly all precincts reporting, with Kasich at just over 25 per cent and Cruz at 14.5 per cent.

The fight for New York's delegate haul consumed the presidential contenders for two weeks, an eternity in the fast-moving White House race. Candidates blanketed every corner of New York, bidding for votes from Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs to the working class cities and rural enclaves that dot the rest of the state.

Trump needed a strong showing to keep alive his chances of clinching the Republicannomination before the party's July convention and to quiet critics who say the long primary season has exposed big deficiencies in his campaign effort.

Having spent months relying on a slim staff, Trump has started hiring more seasoned campaign veterans. He acknowledges that bringing new people into his orbit may cause some strife, but says the moves were necessary at this stage of the race.

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Trump's political strength, though he boasts of drawing new members to the party, has left some Republicans concerned that his nomination could splinter the Republican party.Among Republican voters in New York, nearly sixin 10 said the nominating contest is dividing the party, according to exit polls.

Trump now leads the GOP race with 845 delegates, ahead of Cruz with 559 and Kasich with 147. Securing the GOP nomination requires 1,237.

Among Democrats, Clinton now has 1,893 delegates to Sanders' 1,180. Those totals include both pledged delegates from primaries and caucuses and superdelegates, the party insiders who can back the candidate of their choice regardless of how their state votes. It takes 2,383 to win the Democratic nomination.

The nominating contests will stay centred in the Northeast in the coming days, with Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania all holding contests next week.