Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential caucuses in Nevada, giving the billionaire businessman three straight wins in the race for the party’s White House nomination.
Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are vying for second place, far ahead of John Kasich and Ben Carson.
Preliminary entrance polls of Republican caucus-goers show that nearly six in 10 are angry at the way the government is working and about half of them supported Mr Trump.
Mr Trump was also supported by about six in 10 of those who said they care most about immigration, and nearly half of those who said they care most about the economy.
The race for the Republican nomination now moves on to next week’s Super Tuesday, when a dozen states will hold presidential primaries.
Mr Trump was backed by seven in 10 of those who preferred an outsider, according to early results of an entrance poll conducted for the Associated Press and television networks.
Nevada caucus-goers were more likely than primary or caucus attendees in any state so far to prefer an outsider candidate, the preliminary results showed.
Mr Rubio was supported by a majority who wanted to support a candidate with political experience over a political outsider.
That is a silver lining for Mr Rubio – Nevada is the first state where any candidate earned majority support among those wanting one with political experience over an outsider.
A crowd of several hundred supporters gathered at Mr Trump’s Nevada watch party at the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas and burst into cheers and screams at the news that he had won.
Some shouted “USA! USA!” as the caucus results rolled in. Many of the supporters in the crowd were from outside the state and decided to turn up at the celebration while in town.
Mr Cruz, meanwhile, said he could not wait to get home to Texas, pointing out that the Super Tuesday primaries, including the balloting in his home state, “will be the most important night of this campaign”.
Speaking at a Las Vegas-area YMCA after his underwhelming performance, he said he was the only Republican candidate who could beat Mr Trump.
“The undeniable reality that the first four states have shown is that the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump and the only campaign that can beat Donald Trump is this campaign,” he said.