WASHINGTON (APP) – Billionaire and Republican frontrunner for the US presidential elections, Donald Trump pledged on Wednesday to unify the fractured Republican Party as he looked beyond the bruising primary season to a November clash for the White House with likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. According to recent polls, Trump trails Clinton by 13 percentage points.
Trump’s cleared his path to the GOP presidential nomination after a commanding victory in Indiana’s primary on Tuesday pushed his chief opponent Ted Cruz out of the race.
His lone remaining rival John Kasich was expected to throw in the towel later on Wednesday, bringing the curtain down on one of the most contentious, chaotic and vicious nomination battles in generations, one in which Trump beat no fewer than 16 rivals to the punch.
“Now we’ll unify the party. We’re going to get people together,” the 69-year-old Trump told Fox News early on Wednesday.
“I think we’ll beat Hillary Clinton.” Trump also began discussing the idea of his possible running mate, telling ABC News he wanted “a person with political experience” to compliment his own business acumen.
“I would like to have somebody that could truly be good with respect to dealing with the Senate, dealing with Congress, getting legislation passed.”
A new CNN poll looking ahead to the next phase of the White House race however found Clinton in the lead against the billionaire real estate mogul. Clinton, 68, is hoping to become America’s first female commander-in-chief, after losing her previous presidential race to current president Barack Obama in 2008.
The former secretary of state leads Trump 54 to 41 percent in the polls — her largest lead since July. Clinton suffered a shock loss in Indiana to her challenger Bernie Sanders, who has pledged to remain in the race until the end despite an extremely steep hill to climb, with the former first lady far ahead in the all-important delegate race.
“The Clinton campaign thinks this campaign is over. They’re wrong,” Sanders said in a statement as he vowed to “fight until the last vote is cast.”
