Texas senator Ted Cruz scored an overwhelming victory over Donald Trump in the Kansas caucuses on Saturday. With 77 percent of precincts reporting, Cruz was winning twice as many votes as Donald Trump–51 percent to 25 percent. Florida senator Marco Rubio was in third at 14 percent and Ohio governor John Kasich in fourth at 9 percent. Kansas awards delegates proportionally to candidates who receive more than 10 percent of the vote.
Of the two recent public polls of Kansas, one showed Trump leading Cruz by 6 points while the other showed Trump leading Cruz by 12 points. It’s not clear why the polls were so wrong, but Trump’s disastrous debate performance on Thursday may have played a role in moving the numbers. It is also more difficult to poll caucuses, which tend to have fewer voters than primaries. With 77 percent of precincts reporting, just shy of 50,000 total votes had been counted in Kansas.
