Donald Trump Wins Mississippi, Leads Michigan As Four US States Vote

DETROIT: Republican front-runner Donald Trump scored an easy win in Mississippi and led in early results in Michigan on Tuesday as he tried to regain his campaign momentum after a week of withering attacks from the party's establishment.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also won in Mississippi but was in a tight battle in Michigan with rival Bernie Sanders as four states voted in presidential nominating contests.

With 16 per cent of votes in, Trump had a 10 percentage-point lead over Ohio Governor John Kasich in Michigan, and Clinton trailed Sanders slightly with about 25 per cent of the Democratic vote tallied in the state.

Trump split four nominating contests on Saturday with conservative rival Ted Cruz, who positioned himself as the prime alternative to the brash New York billionaire in the race to be the party's candidate in the November 8 election.

Kasich is in last place in the number of delegates amassed, which are needed to clinch the nomination at the party's July convention.

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But a strong showing for him in Michigan could blunt Trump's momentum and set up a crucial do-or-die showdown for the governor's campaign in Ohio next week.

"The whole world's watching what's going to happen in Michigan tonight," Kasich, 63, told a rally in Lansing.

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US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, 44, the favorite of a Republican establishment alarmed by Trump's controversial proposals and anxious about Cruz's uncompromising conservatism, lagged in Michigan polls and needs a win in his home state next week to keep his campaign alive.

Michigan wins for Trump and Clinton would set them up for a potentially decisive day of voting on March 15, when the delegate-rich states of Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina cast ballots. The Republican contests in Florida and Ohio award all the state's delegates to the winner.

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If Trump, 69, could sweep those two states and pile up delegates elsewhere next week, it could knock home-state favorites Rubio and Kasich out of the race and make it tough for Cruz to catch him.

Republicans were also voting on Tuesday in Idaho and Hawaii.

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In Mississippi, Clinton was helped by a strong showing with African-American voters, who make up more than half of the Democratic electorate. Exit polls showed Clinton winning nine of every 10 black voters.

Exit polls in the Deep South state showed Trump won among voters who described themselves as evangelicals, with 45 per cent compared with 39 per cent for Cruz. Trump also won voters who said they wanted a president from outside the political establishment and those who described themselves as "angry" about how the federal government is working.

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Cruz won voters who called themselves "dissatisfied, but not angry," edging Trump with 37 per cent to the billionaire's 34 per cent.