Mark Lungariello

mlungariel@lohud.com

Whether you’re rooting for a front-runner to close big or a contested convention, there’s no denying the April 19 New York presidential primaries matter this year – and both Republican and Democratic primary voters are being fiercely courted. As the candidates look to rally their base and draw in new converts, we took a look at the types of voters they are counting on for support in the Lower Hudson Valley.

CLINTON: Meet five Hillary Clinton supporters

SANDERS: Meet five Bernie Sanders supporters

KASICH: Meet five John Kasich supporters

CRUZ: Meet five Ted Cruz supporters

We found Donald J. Trump supporters are distrusting of big government, thinking America is a country that has gone soft and lost its work ethic. We also found people who have felt detached from the political process in the past, but who say they have now finally found someone that speaks to them.

Here are five of their stories:

JOE CALDWELL

Age, hometown: 44, Harrison

Background: Caldwell is a former NYPD highway patrolman who retired due to a 9/11 related illness. He’s married to a woman with a Hispanic background and has two children.

Voted for last time: No one.

Why Trump: "I want someone to come in that’s not the establishment. Republican or Democrat, I don’t believe in that anymore. They tell you what you want to hear, then when they get in they do something different. Donald Trump is very aggressive. He says what he means. I don’t agree with the insults and I don’t agree with that type of rhetoric - I’m more of a humble type of person. I believe if he becomes president he could humble himself down a little bit and work better with people. I think he’s the only one who’s going to do what he says he’s going to do, or at least try. I know him to be a very, very smart man and he is a businessman. When it comes to negotiating deals, I don’t think there’s anybody running that can hold a candle to him. We’re at a point of no return. If this country takes another four years of an Obama-type administration it can’t continue on. I just can’t see this country surviving, I just see it as turning into a broke, third-world country. The working person, the middle class isn’t gonna have any chance."

HECTOR GARCED

Age, hometown: 66, White Plains

Background: A real estate investor, Garced founded the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He was born in Puerto Rico and lived in the Bronx before moving to White Plains. He’s a married father of two grown daughters, one in the military and another in law school.

Voted for last time: Mitt Romney, but wasn’t a fan.

Why Trump: "A lot of the media twist things around to make the Republicans look bad. Why do I support Trump? Because he’s not beholden to anybody. That alone is worth him being president... He knows how to create jobs for starters. He’s given jobs to Mexicans, to Arabs, to Puerto Ricans, to everyone. The man is a businessman and he understands that. I’m convinced the Democratic Party and Republican Party are part of the same cartel. Working for their own interests, but not working for Americans... If he gets into the presidency, he can hopefully break up the cartel that the RNC and the DNC are enjoying. We have Muslim cells in this country that want to kill us. They aren’t playing games or mincing words. These Muslims, not all of them, but too many of them say they want to kill us. Unfortunately, our president that we have currently in the White House as far as I’m concerned is a Muslim. As far as I’m concerned this guy needs to be impeached. Nancy Pelosi, she needs to be impeached. Chuck Schumer should be impeached. And Hillary Clinton should be in jail."

KEN JAY

Age, hometown: 67, West Nyack

Background: Jay, a former Democrat, switched to the GOP for the 2012 primary. He works in credit-card services and is a divorced father of an Iraq War veteran.

Voted for last time: Romney

Why Trump: "I’ve been a Trump fan since the mid 80s... The man knows how to get things done. I’ve been saying for years we need a businessman in the White House. We need to get back to our roots, back to the things that make this country great again. We need to get rid of this PR crap. I call our president O-bummer. And Clinton is embarrassing. That whole crew, they are destroying the country. Now they want to do $15 minimum wage. If they had good jobs, where people were making good money, it wouldn’t be an issue. This country’s going to hell in a hand basket. It’s out there. I see it. I talk to merchants all day long and they’re hurting out there. Their businesses are going down in terms of volumes and their overhead is going through the roof with all these regulations like Obamacare. They don’t know what to do anymore. They put more regulations and more regulations and more regulations. It’s getting to the point where people don’t want to open businesses and people in business want to get out. We need to take the government back and that’s why I’m adamant about electing Trump.

LAURA SCOTTI

Age, hometown: 65, Elmsford

Background: A retired school worker and an amateur singer, Scotti grew up Catholic and attended Catholic school. She is single and never had children.

Voted for last time: Romney

Why Trump: "He’s intelligent, he’s a businessman and I think he’d get the country back on the right road. Like manufacturing, that’s something they should’ve never let that out of the country. Just because our country says 'Well, we welcome everybody' doesn’t mean we want them taking advantage of us. This generation that’s coming up now, they want everything handed to them. At some point all of this is going to explode because you can’t sustain it. Now they’re saying they want to give health benefits to illegal immigrants. They want to let them vote. Can we go to Mexico and vote? This country has gotten so bad with morals and everything, it’s just a mess. If we can’t get someone with discipline who can turn things around, we are finished ... I think he genuinely cares about this country and wants to turn it around."

CHUCK TALIA

Age, hometown: 53, Harrison

Background: Talia is a truck driver with three children and four grandchildren.

Voted for last time: No one.

Why Trump: "I compare Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan - they aren’t career politicians, they aren’t politicians at all as a matter of fact. I feel he’s the man who’s going to put us back on track. When Trump started out he took a loan and he turned that loan into an empire. He’s got plans for the military, he’s got plans to redo the health care. With Obamacare, I’ll tell you what, I can’t afford health care. And I like his immigration policy and building a wall. He doesn’t want to keep people out, he wants to make them come in the right way. Just like my grandfather did when he came from Italy, stopped in Ellis Island. We were once a great, strong nation. Nobody messed with us. Now they laugh at us. Trump has the right attitude. 'I want to make it strong like it was.' Forget all of the hype, the man himself is a genius... They’re scared of him because they know what he says he’s going to do. He’s going to sign executive orders to build the wall. He’s going to sign executive orders to bring charges against Hillary."