Bob Jordan

@BobJordanAPP

Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump looks inevitable in the November presidential election, but that hasn’t stopped the last round of nominating contests in New Jersey and five other states on Tuesday from taking on outsized symbolic importance.

Clinton is roughly 70 delegates (a number that will be reduced by weekend caucuses Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) away from clinching the Democratic nomination and political observers expect her to scoop up what she needs from New Jersey when polls close at 8 p.m. California also offers enough delegates to put Clinton over the top but voting there continues for three more hours.

“New Jersey, you have the chance to decide the nominee of the Democratic Party next Tuesday,” Clinton told nearly 1,000 people who attended a rally at the Newark campus of Rutgers University.

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Meanwhile, not all Republicans are happy with Trump, the party’s presumptive nominee. Former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, parting ways with Chris Christie, the current occupant of that office, says her fellow GOP voters in New Jersey should use this occasion to cast protest votes against the New York real estate baron.

Polls in New Jersey will open at 6 a.m. Tuesday. Nominations for the House of Representatives and county and municipal races will also be on the ballot.

Whitman in a telephone interview said Republicans who vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich or U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas — both are out of the race but remain on the ballot — “will send a message to the party that Trump is not acceptable as a candidate and is out of control with his behavior and language.’’

“It’s not going to stop him from getting the nomination at the convention, but it could be a significant enough vote to send a clear signal,’’ Whitman said.

Whitman has been a severe and consistent critic of Trump. In February she said she was “ashamed” that Christie had endorsed Trump, based on Trump’s controversial statements about race. Christie has gone on to be named as head of Trump’s prospective presidential transition team.

Trump has shrugged off internal party pushback against his campaign but he welcomed House Speaker Paul Ryan’s long-awaited endorsement with a Tweet: "So great to have the endorsement and support of Paul Ryan. We will both be working very hard to Make America Great Again!" he said.

Nor are all Democrats embracing Clinton as their likely nominee, though polling shows she looks strong in New Jersey.

A Monmouth University poll last month showed Clinton with a nearly 2-to-1 lead over U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont among likely primary voters in the Garden State, with edges in nearly every demographic, including with a group that has been a Sanders sweet spot: voters under 50. Clinton has 51 percent to Sanders’ 38 percent in that group.

But Sanders supporters, such as Manalapan resident Margo Wolfson, a Brookdale Community College biology professor, are sticking it out.

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“I think the world is changing economically and environmentally and we need a different response to those changes,’’ said Wolfson, who as a Sanders campaign volunteer organized a group to canvass neighborhoods in western Monmouth County, going door-to-door to talk to voters in the final days before the primary.

Wolfson said it doesn’t matter that the delegate count looks ominous for Sanders.

“At least important issues have been raised from the campaign,’’ she said. “One of my favorite movies is ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,’ and it has a line about the only causes worth fighting for are lost causes.’’

There are similar sentiments in California, the only state with more delegates at stake than New Jersey in the Tuesday contests. The other states voting are New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

“It’s odd. Everybody assumes the Democratic race is wrapped up but that hasn’t cut into the excitement about the race, because the Clinton people are really anxious to win out here and pick up a head of steam before facing Trump,’’ Raphael J. Sonenshein, head of the Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview.

Sanders scoffs at suggestions he should stop campaigning to allow the party to unite against Trump.

“You know what, I’m an old-fashioned guy. I kind of think that democracy is a good idea,” Sanders said during a campaign stop in California. “I think vigorous debate about the issues is a good idea.”

Seton Hall University political scientist Matthew Hale said there is a downside in presidential politics when a party takes a long time to settle on a candidate.

“Sometimes candidates get into the candidate bubble where they believe they are involved in something that transcends all else. It seems to me Sanders by fighting the good fight to the end is actually giving Donald Trump more of an opening to become our next president,’’ Hale said.

Sonenshein said having Sanders stand down is easier said than done.

“The logical side of the brain says the race is over, but that doesn’t mean it’s really over in people’s minds,’’ Sonenshein said. “When you get people this excited about a campaign, as Sanders has, it can take months to bring things down to a normal temperature. You just can’t stop it on a dime. It’s like turning an aircraft carrier around. I don’t agree that he should suddenly announce, ‘I’ve looked at the numbers and we’re done, goodbye.’”

Polls on the expected Clinton-Trump matchup in November have been all over the place. A Fox News poll conducted in mid-May showed Trump leading Clinton by 3 percentage points and an ABC News/Washington Post poll put Trump up by 2 points. Other recent surveys have been more optimistic for Clinton — she was up by 3 points in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll and by 4 in a Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday.

Bob Jordan bjordan@gannettnj.com