Connecticut Democrats and Republicans are voting on Tuesday in the state’s primaries.
Presidential candidates from both parties have taken the campaign trail to the state, vying for delegates that now could matter more than they have in any recent election cycle.
At Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s New Britain field office -- one of five in the state -- volunteers were at work when New Britain resident Judith Peterson walked in to get her son, a fervent Clinton supporter, some campaign swag.
Her son Robert said by phone that even though he’s 15 and not old enough to vote, he’s an avid fan.
“I think it’s about time we have our first woman president,” Robert Peterson said.
And while many young people support presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Peterson said Clinton’s background and experience speaks for itself.
“I did all the research on Bernie and Hillary. I like Hillary’s policies,” Peterson said.
Sanders maintains a strong following with college-aged students. But University of Connecticut student Marissa Piccolo said that Clinton has a tenacity that will help her if she becomes president.
“Hillary has been in the public eye for so long,” Piccolo said. “You can’t understand her current public perception without understanding the decades of Republican attacks she’s gone through that have been very purposeful and deliberate to portray her as dishonest that I think have a lot of gendered elements, too, that we can’t deny.”
But Laura Chambers, a student at Gateway Community College, said that Sanders demonstrates more empathy than Clinton.
“My thing with Clinton is that I always felt like she's a little fake because I’ve heard things that she’s said in the past, and I’m not exactly too keen about what it is she’s saying,” Chambers said. “I think Bernie doesn’t have to do anything to make himself seem likeable to any culture. He just does what he does because he feels it’s right.”
Both Clinton and Sanders made two pre-primary stops each in Connecticut in the past week.
Trump Projected to Win Republican Primary, But Not All Voters Sold
Leaning on his pickup truck in front of Donald Trump’s campaign headquarters in Berlin, volunteer and former independent gubernatorial candidate Joe Visconti of West Hartford said that while official Connecticut Trump campaign staffers can’t talk to the press, he has no problem weighing in on the candidate.
“I think he’s luckier than he is smart, and I think he’s a genius,” said Visconti.
Visconti has been on the ground garnering support for Trump across the state. Visconti said the fourth district is a possible weak spot in Trump’s campaign.
"What I’m trying to do is get the feel of how it is down there, and get him over 50 in the fourth district," he said. "That’s the only place I think there’s a threat. Not to lose, but to lose a delegate. Or two."
While Trump is the current favorite to win Connecticut’s primary, not all Republican voters think he ought to be the party’s eventual nominee.
Paul DaSilva, president of the University of Connecticut’s chapter of College Republicans, said he thinks Trump is more threat than savior.
“I think that Donald Trump is a profoundly dangerous force, not only for the party, but for the country,” DaSilva said. “To have a leading candidate for president of the United States who has made a campaign by targeting and offending multiple minority groups in the country is a very sad thing.”
Meanwhile, Republican candidates John Kasich and Ted Cruz, both still chasing Trump’s delegate lead, have taken divergent approaches in Connecticut.
Kasich -- whom some of the state’s Republican voters think inhabits a more electable middle ground between Trump’s bombast and Cruz’ hard-line conservatism -- hosted two rallies ahead of the primary, one in Glastonbury and another at Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport.
Kasich told supporters at his event at Glastonbury High School on April 23 that a good showing in the state will only strengthen his chances in the event of a contested Republican convention in July.
Cruz has been largely absent, choosing instead to look ahead to states like Pennsylvania and Indiana while relying on a digital and volunteer presence in Connecticut.
“Because he’s not here, he’s doing all he can do,” Visconti said of the Cruz campaign’s social media efforts. “That’s the new politics.”
Members of UConn College Republicans said they’ve shifted support to either Cruz or Kasich after supporting other candidates, like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, at the beginning of the race.
Some members said they’ve been disappointed with how the Republican field has narrowed.
DaSilva, who began as a Rubio supporter, said he’s shifted to Cruz since Rubio dropped out of the race in mid-March. Cruz was his second choice, DaSilva said, who added that he thought Rubio was “the perfect presidential candidate.”
“At the end of the day, really, it’s anybody but Trump,” DaSilva said. “I think Cruz obviously at this point stands the best chance to defeat Trump in a convention.”
Zak Quamme -- secretary of UConn College Republicans and a Paul-turned-Cruz supporter -- felt the same way, saying that it would be a "black mark" on the party if Trump won the nomination.
Quamme said regardless of who captures the majority of Connecticut’s delegates, he’s excited that the state carries more significant implications than it has in previous election cycles.
“Every delegate counts at this point,” Quamme said.
Polls are open until 8:00 pm on Tuesday night.
Ryan Caron King contributed to this report.
