Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (Xinhuanet file photo)

by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton are expected to perform well on "Super Tuesday," a key date in the 2016 presidential race.

While her campaign had some trouble early on, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to do well on Tuesday, when a dozen states will hold primaries or caucuses. She is expected to perform well especially in the Southern states, mainly due to her strong support among African-Americans, a crucial voting block that in some states comprises half of Democratic voters.

On the Republican Party side, Trump leads the other candidates by a significant margin, and Tuesday may well determine whether the brash billionaire will continue to clinch the Republican nomination.

"If Trump does well (on Tuesday) I suspect it will be extremely difficult for any of the other candidates to overcome him at that point," Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua.

Echoing those sentiments, Brookings Institution's senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua that if Trump does well on Super Tuesday, "it will be very difficult to slow his route to the nomination."

"He already has a big lead in delegates and the upcoming primaries could put him in a very strong position. He already is getting some endorsements from leading Republicans and more will line up to support him once it looks like he will be the nominee," West said.

Indeed, recent days have seen former Republican candidate Chris Christie -- the Republican governor of New Jersey who was just six months ago seen as a serious contender for the nomination -- endorse Trump, not long after stepping out of the race.

But while the in-your-face Trump is doing well in the polls, he still faces major hurdles from Republican Party big-wigs and donors.

"Many of those people have not warmed up to him and feel that he will drag the party down in the general election," West said.

"Some of them are promising an all-out effort to stop him. So his path to party unification will need to overcome those individuals," he added.

On the Democratic side, Clinton is expected to sweep the southern U.S. states on Super Tuesday, Zelizer said, but added that Clinton's only rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, will win or do very well in states such as Vermont, Massachusetts and perhaps Minnesota and Oklahoma.

"That said, I think the main issue with Sanders is how long this continues and how bitter the battle becomes," Zelizer said.

"I think he will continue through March regardless, given that there are some northern states where he might find support," he said.

West also said Clinton is in great shape for the Democratic Party nomination.

He said Clinton should do well on Super Tuesday because half of the states are in the South and African Americans constitute a major part of the Democratic electorate. "Since she is doing well with that group, Sanders' only hope is to sweep the states that are largely white," he said.

After Super Tuesday, Clinton is expected to pivot from Sanders to Trump and focus a lot of her upcoming speeches on why Trump would not make America great, West said, referring to the Trump campaign slogan "Make America Great Again!"

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