Wisconsin primary: Sanders, Cruz go into the contest with slight leads

On Tuesday Democrats and Republicans will be going to the polls in Wisconsin for the state’s presidential primaries. If the polls are correct, it could be a tough day for the frontrunners.

According to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz leads New York businessman Donald Trump by 6.5 percentage points -- 40.2 to 33.7 percent of the  vote --  in the Republican contest in Wisconsin. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has 19 percent of the vote, according to polls.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is up by an average of 3.1 percent over former Sec. of  State Hillary Clinton.

“We are fighting hard in Wisconsin. We think we have a real shot to win in New York, and then it's on to many, many other states,” Sanders told ABC News. “We have won six out of the last seven caucuses. We have closed the gap in national polls. We think we’ve got a real shot to win.”

What’s at stake Tuesday?

For the Republicans

Wisconsin has 42 Republican delegates up for  grabs. Eighteen will be awarded to the candidate who gets the most votes in the state. The remaining 24 delegates are congressional district delegates – meaning that those delegates are awarded to the person who wins the most votes in a specific congressional district.  There are three delegates per congressional district in Wisconsin, and the winner of those districts will get all three of the delegates.

>>What is a contested convention and will the Republicans have one?

For the Democrats

There are 96 Democratic delegates to be had Tuesday. The Democratic delegates in Wisconsin, as they are in the rest of the country, are awarded proportionally. There are 19 at-large delegates, 10 pledged, 57 district delegates and 10 superdelegates.

>>What is a superdelegate, and what do they do?

When will we know the results?

Polls in Wisconsin close at 8 p.m. CT, 9 p.m. ET.

How many delegates are needed to win the nomination?

For Democrats, 2,383; for Republicans, 1,237.

Click here to see the latest delegate count.

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