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Donald Trump is about to have a dominant day

Donald Trump is about to have a dominant day

Donald Trump

Brendan McDermid/REUTERS

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump secured a massive victory during last week's New York primary, picking up almost all of the delegates up for grabs.

But on Tuesday, Trump is going to have his sights set on an even bigger prize.

And it will be one that should be easily attainable.

During Tuesday's primaries, 118 bound delegates will be at stake, in addition to 54 unbound delegates from Pennsylvania.

Along with Pennsylvania, voters in Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Maryland go to the polls.

The Northeastern and mid-Atlantic primary day encapsulates an area that has been dominated by Trump. And, as polls show, he's poised for a lot more winning.

In Pennsylvania, where 17 bound delegates will be awarded to the statewide winner, Trump holds a more than 20-point lead over Ted Cruz, the Texas senator. Cruz was mathematically eliminated last week from obtaining the needed 1,237 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination before the party's July convention.

The unbound delegates from the state are elected by congressional district, and with Trump leading in polls statewide, Trump supporters should have an advantage when it comes to selecting pro-Trump delegates at the ballot.

Another winner-take-all state is Delaware, where 16 delegates are up for grabs. Polling in the state has been sparse, but one survey released on Friday showed Trump with a commanding 37-point lead over John Kasich, the Ohio governor.

And though Connecticut is not a winner-take-all state, Trump can claim all 28 delegates at stake if he wins each of the state's five congressional districts and finishes above 50% statewide. Currently, polling has Trump at a nearly 53% average in the state, ahead of Kasich by roughly 27 points.

Trump will have a slightly tougher time pulling out the full slate of delegates in Rhode Island and Maryland, but he should still find plenty of success.

Donald Trump

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Trump at a campaign event at Stephen Decatur High School on April 20 in Berlin, Maryland.

Rhode Island holds a proportional primary and awards 19 delegates. Two recent surveys show that Trump is polling near 60% in the state, with the Manhattan billionaire holding a nearly 30-point lead over Kasich. He's also pulled out a huge victory in bordering Massachusetts last month, and is currently leading big in Connecticut.

Maryland, where he holds a 21-point lead over Kasich, hands the winner of each of its eight congressional districts three delegates. The remaining 14 delegates will go to the statewide winner, which looks increasingly likely to be Trump.

"None of these states are particularly amenable to the 'Never Trump' movement," wrote Tom Jensen, the director of Public Policy Polling, in summarizing the firm's polls from three of Tuesday's states.

"Trump has the highest favorability rating of the GOP candidates in each state, and also handily wins head to head match ups with Cruz and Kasich in all three states," he added. "One thing that comes across in all these places is how unpopular Cruz is - he's way under water even with Republican primary voters."

As MSNBC's Steve Kornacki projected ahead of the New York primary, Trump will need to pull out at least 100 of the 118 bound delegates for the day to be considered a success. That looks to be easily within his reach.

Nate Silver, the renowned statistician from the data-journalism website FiveThirtyEight, projected that Trump would need to win 103 delegates on Tuesday to stay on path for the needed 1,237 before he won New York. That doesn't take into consideration, however, how many pro-Trump unbound delegates are elected in Pennsylvania.

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