After the complete Trump New York victory, both Ted Cruz and John Kasich were mathematically eliminated from any possibility of winning through voters. The #NeverTrump campaign shifted and rebranded itself #NeverVoters.

Last night, facing the looming probability of complete defeat on April 26th in the North East primary states of: Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland and Delaware, the Ted Cruz and John Kasich campaigns announced publicly their intents to draw their last-hope firewalls in Indiana, New Mexico and Oregon.

The most current polling of Pennsylvania looks like this:

(full pdf of results here)… and the Trump campaign has also ramped up the voter information for the unbound PA delegates (SEE HERE) turning the tide of in favor of Team Donald Trump in the Keystone State.

As a direct consequence of the growing support for candidate Trump, and with looming electoral defeat on the horizon, the Ted Cruz campaign now places all its “never voter” efforts on stopping Donald Trump from winning Indiana. However, Donald Trump is also polling ahead of Cruz in Indiana – so the Cruz campaign approach throws a Hail-Mary.

In an effort to improve fleeting chances, Team Cruz has struck a deal with the Kasich campaign. Team Kasich is to pull out of Indiana, and Team Cruz will give them free reign in New Mexico and Oregon.

Lyin' Ted and Kasich are mathematically dead and totally desperate. Their donors & special interest groups are not happy with them. Sad! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2016

From the desperate campaign of Ted Cruz:

[…] “our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico, and we would hope that allies of both campaigns would follow our lead. In other states holding their elections for the remainder of the primary season, our campaign will continue to compete vigorously to win.” (link)

The campaign of John Kasich agrees to the strategy and announces they are withdrawing from the Indiana contest and will focus their efforts on New Mexico and Oregon as requested:

Included in the Kasich announcement is a request to the Super-PAC’s spending on behalf of both ‘never voter’ candidates:

“We would expect independent third-party groups to do the same and honor the commitments made by the Cruz and Kasich campaigns”.

So the Cruz and Kasich campaigns are committed to each other, and both jointly committed to the ‘Never Voter’ mission. Interestingly, for Team Cruz to give up Oregon they must have internal feedback from private polling showing their chances were diminishing rapidly.