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(Bloomberg) — The Stop Trump movement enjoyed its greatest victory so far, with Senator Ted Cruz defeating the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary almost any way the electorate could be sliced. Donald Trump lost among female voters by 13 percentage points, his worst margin other than a 16-point loss in Ohio on March 15. An exit poll found that he also fell short by 17 points among voters without college degrees, an important part of his national base. More than half of Wisconsin Republicans said they’d be concerned or scared if Trump was elected president.
The defeat was so stinging that his campaign released a terse statement calling Cruz a “Trojan horse” that is “being used by the party bosses to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump.”
Yet the billionaire remains in the driver’s seat in the nomination race, maintaining a commanding lead over Cruz in the delegate count and holding on to a real chance—albeit less of one after Tuesday’s loss—of collecting the 1,237 he needs to clinch the nomination before the Republican convention in July.
Trump also enjoys a 31-point lead in New York, which holds the next primary on April 19, and an 18-point lead in Pennsylvania, one of five states that follow a week later, according CBS News polls released Sunday.
“This slows the momentum some, but it’s not a major blow,” said Representative Tom Marino, a Pennsylvania Republican backing Trump.
“He’s had a bad week,” Marino said. “But tell me one person running for president, or Senate or city council who hasn’t had a bad week. Donald Trump isn’t used to being out on the campaign trail, but he’s taking the advice. You’ve already seen a more presidential Donald Trump. But sometimes you fall off the wagon.”