Esteban Parra

The News Journal

There was little doubt who 68-year-old Elizabeth Jones voted for as she got into her Fiat outside the Harrington Fire Company hall Tuesday where ballots were being cast.

Her passenger-side window announced it: "Trump. Make America Great Again!"

"I voted for Donald Trump because he says it like it is," Jones said after voting Tuesday afternoon. "He's not politically correct and he says it like he is.

"I think he's the best one to do jobs and he's not going to be bought because he's funding is own election."

There's been a steady stream of voters Tuesday at many polls across the state and Republican officials believe they will see heavier turn out than in previous years. That's because unlike previous primary cycles, candidates have not wrapped up the race by this time.

Trump is predicted to top the Delaware GOP ballot as Republicans across the state hit the polls which close at 8 p.m.

"I expect that along the lines of polling numbers we saw last week, Trump is going to be over 50 [percent]," said John Fluharty, former executive director of the Delaware Republican Committee and a party analyst.

Fluharty said he expected Ohio Gov. John Kasich will do better than expected and come in second in Delaware, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz coming in a close third place.

In Harrington, where Trump held a rally Friday at Delaware State Fairgrounds, support for him was strong among voters interviewed outside the polls.

"May Donlad Trump win," said 51-year-old Wanada Bowers as she spoke to her daughter outside the polling center.

Bower said she supports Trump because of the way he runs his businesses and the way he conducts himself. She's also not happy with the nation's path and wants something better.

Matt Fox, who voted for Barack Obama in 2009, then switched parties to vote for Mitt Romney four years later, said he stuck with the GOP this time in order to vote for Trump.

"I seen Donald Trump at the rally the other day and it was a pretty cool experience, especially for little small Harrington," said the 26-year-old wearing his Trump baseball cap. "I always kind of liked him from the beginning so I just came out and vote."

While many millennials have been pulling for Sen. Bernie Sander, Fox said he believes Trump's common core beliefs are the same as those of ordinary people. He added that's been catching grief from friends for supporting Trump, who they label as racist. But Fox said he believes Trump's stands have to do more with national security.

While Trump has many hard-core supporters, he also has many detractors – and some of that anger has been taken out on people rooting for him.

Hunter Dworsky, 23, of Newark has had 10 Trump signs plucked from his front yard over the last six months.

As a volunteer for the campaign in New Castle County, he went around to about a dozen polling places on Monday night to plant signs nearby. A least a few at the Newark Library had been crumpled up, tossed aside, or thrown away by mid-morning.

“We’re used to it,” he said after casting his ballot wearing a Trump tee-shirt and a “Make America Great Again” cap. Throwing the signs away, “it’s not really going to stop anything,” he said.

People are underestimating the level of support for Trump, he said, noting the crowd that showed up to the rally in Harrington last week.

At least 50 people he talked to there said that if Trump isn’t the Republican nominee, they’ll vote for him as a third-party candidate or they won’t vote for anyone at all.

Richard and Barbara Benson held hands as they entered Smyrna Middle School on Tuesday morning where they voted for the candidate expected to win Delaware's Republican primary.

"I believe he's going to make changes that we need to bring our country back to where we should be," said Benson, who lives in Smyrna.

"I totally agree with what my husband said," his wife added.

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Not all GOP voters are discouraged by Trump's lead.

Republican Tim Sharpe cast his ballot for Ted Cruz Tuesday morning in Wilmington.

"He is a real constitutionalist," said Sharpe, who said his biggest concern is the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

"I think when people get to know him they will like him," Sharpe said of Cruz.

Even some Democrats leaving polls Tuesday favored Trump.

Nancy Friedman, of Newark, is a lifelong Democrat, but she’s hoping that Donald Trump will win in the general election.

“Basically, the government is a business,” she said, and Trump has the experience to run it. “Yes, he’s had his faults, but, look where he is and look what he’s got,” she said outside of the Newark Library, where the parking lot was speckled with Trump campaign signs.

Friedman cast her ballot for Sanders, she said, because she doesn’t want to see Hillary Clinton as president. “I just don’t trust her,” Friedman said.

STORY: Thousands flock to Trump Delaware rally

STORY: Local Dems hit the polls

VOTERS TOOLBOX: What you need to vote on Tuesday

RESULTS: Interactive elections page

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3