Donald Trump is at a new plateau among Republicans nationally, sitting at 56 percent, compared to only 22 percent for Ted Cruz and 14 percent for John Kasich, according to an NBC News poll.

With those numbers, it become awfully hard to deny him the nomination, no matter what happens today in Indiana, where most polls show him well ahead. I can see unbound delegates who have pledged to Cruz under enormous pressure to support Trump.

The poll also appears to put the lie to the notion that Cruz does better against Hillary Clinton than Trump – a key selling point for Cruz. Hillary leads Trump by only six points, 43-37 percent and that’s before his moniker of “crooked Hillary” gains traction. Hillary beats Cruz by 44-30 percent.