Billionaire Republican frontrunner Donald Trump dominated as the state of Ohio voted.
Katharine Berry is a registered Democrat. Michael Oles cast his ballot for Ted Cruz. But like many of those who trooped out to vote in Stark County, Ohio Tuesday, both had Donald Trump on their mind.
Stark County is home to urban professionals, farmers, suburban soccer moms, growing numbers of Hispanics, and blue-collar workers at steel mills and other manufacturing sites.
And talk of the billionaire Republican frontrunner dominated as the state of Ohio voted in Tuesday's make-or-break primaries, where it has emerged as a key battleground.
"I'm a Democrat, I voted Democrat today," said Berry, a 69-year-old great grandmother, after casting her ballot in the town of Canton.
"But if Trump wins (the Republican nomination) then I'm going to vote for him" in the general election.
If Ohio is a microcosm of America -- as is sometimes claimed -- Stark County is like the state in miniature, and has picked nearly all the winning presidential nominees in the past half-century.
While the battle over the Buckeye State is intense, with Ohio's own Governor John Kasich running for president, it was Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign signs that were positioned near entrances to polling stations.
Few other candidates' signs were visible.
It was still dark when registered nurse Michael Oles, 46, came to vote and while he said he cast his ballot for the arch-conservative Texas Senator Cruz, Trump had got into his head.
True, said Oles, the real estate mogul is brash and antagonistic.
But if he wins the nomination, he told AFP, "I'd hold my nose and pull the lever for Trump."
"You're seeing a lot of Trump sway. You're seeing the frustration" with Washington and establishment politicians, Oles said as he exited Canton's First Church of the Nazarene after voting.
Michael Kemp, a steelworker at TimkenSteel Corporation, thinks the Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will go down to the wire, largely due to sparring over trade policy.
And he acknowledged that in union halls and among his steelworker colleagues there is chatter about The Donald.
"I think he's created jobs outside the country with some of his businesses, but I don't think he's created enough US jobs," Kemp said.
Nevertheless, "I'm sure some are going to vote for Trump."
'Struck a nerve'Katherine Dunivent, 28, said she voted for Clinton, in part because "I think she does care about communities."
As Dunivent, who is African American, emerged from a polling station in Canton, she wrinkled her nose when the subject of Trump was raised.
"I don't actually know how he got this far," she mused.
Several churches that doubled as polling stations were selling or giving away cookies. Small American flags fluttered outside, while "Vote Here" signs were taped on doors.
One man was seen taking his Confederate flag hat off before heading in to cast his ballot at a town hall in nearby Wilmot.
Trump, sensing a tight race in Ohio, travelled several times to the state in recent days, and at every rally here he blasted Kasich, either for voting for the 1990s NAFTA trade deal, supporting the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership or for being an absentee governor.
On Tuesday Trump badgered Ohio voters from afar, ranting about Kasich in a series of tweets.
"Kasich voted for NAFTA, a disaster for Ohio, and now wants the even worse TPP approved," he posted. "Vote Trump and end this madness!"
Clinton supporter Jake Croston, the business manager of Laborers' International Union Local 1015 chapter in Canton, said he has been unimpressed by the businessman-turned-politician.
"I think he's full of crap," Croston said.
"He has struck a nerve with this country, because we have lost so many manufacturing jobs overseas. But rather than the solution he's been a big part of the problem."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)