U.S. presidential candidate Trump collects 3rd straight victory in Nevada

New York billionaire developer Donald Trump easily gained his third consecutive victory in an early-voting state Tuesday night and solidified his position as the front-runner in the Republican presidential field one week before Super Tuesday elections on March 1.

Trump's sweeping and decisive victory in the Nevada caucuses was declared by almost all major U.S. TV networks immediately after the polls closed at 12:00 a.m. EST (0500 GMT).

According to the final returns after all polls' results were collected, Trump, who garnered 45.9 percent of the votes, was 22 percent over his nearest challenger, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, with Texas Senator Ted Cruz trailing in third place.

Propelled by an electorate deeply frustrated with U.S. politicians, Trump, a controversial candidate known for his blunt and sometimes even incendiary remarks, had so far notched three big wins in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, as well as a second-place finish in Iowa.

Trump's easy win in Nevada did not come as unexpected since polls earlier had consistently projected him to be the winner there, and for the first time in the 2016 primary season, entrance polls showed that a majority of voters, 57 percent of Nevada caucus-goers, said they were "angry" with the federal government.

Also, 60 percent of Nevada caucus-goers said that they preferred an outsider over someone with political experience as the next president, the highest percentage so far in any other Republican primary or caucus in this election cycle.

After their failure to derail Trump from the Republican nomination race, Rubio and Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich, who ended on Tuesday night with a distant fifth-place finish, are now facing tremendous pressure in their upcoming home state primaries, which account for roughly a fourth of the available delegates in the next three weeks.

In order to win the Republican nomination, a candidate must gain at least 1,237 delegates. On Super Tuesday, which falls on March 1 this year, 11 largely Southern states, including Cruz's home state Texas, will hold primaries or caucuses. Then on March 15, Florida and Ohio will hold primaries.

Source: Xinhua