US presidential hopefuls battle it out in South Carolina, Nevada
US Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls are competing in South Carolina and Nevada for their party’s tickets to the November election.
Republican voters have begun casting their ballots in the South Carolina primary. The first voters headed to the polls Saturday morning as the state's Republican presidential primary election officially began.
Republicans Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are the frontrunners, having won Iowa and New Hampshire votes respectively.
Trump is banking on a big symbolic win ahead of "Super Tuesday" -- March 1, when about a dozen states will go to the polls to choose candidates for the November 8 presidential election.
On the eve of the primary, Trump led with about 28 percent of likely Republicans voters backing him, according to an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll.
The ultra-conservative Cruz followed with 23 percent. Trailing were Senator Marco Rubio at 15 percent and former Florida governor Jeb Bush at 13 percent.
In the run-up to the primary in South Carolina, Trump and Cruz were engaged in bitter personal attacks.
To the west, in the desert state of Nevada, Democrats caucus -- group themselves together by candidate to voice their support -- starting at 11 am (1900 GMT).
Nevada is a more racially diverse state and a major test for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Both Clinton and Sanders have been working hard to reach out to the African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans that make up roughly half of the state's population.
Clinton, who won by a hair in Iowa but was crushed by Sanders in New Hampshire, is counting on a major Hispanic voter turnout, especially among Las Vegas hotel and casino employees.
She won the Iowa caucuses, but Sanders’ popularity has grown since he won the New Hampshire primary.
A Fox News national poll has for the first time put Sanders at the top with 47 percent, compared to 44 percent for Clinton.
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