“Not only that, more than half of them award their delegates on a winner takes all basis.

“There is only one conclusion from today and it’s really made it one of the more boring Super Tuesdays in recent years.

“Donald Trump has the ascendancy already and this will be potentially his crowning moment and the end of the contest in the Republican primary.”

Despite Trump’s dominant performance, there were warning signs for the ex-president.

Haley continued to do well in counties with large numbers of young, suburban and college-educated voters in Virginia and North Carolina.

Forty per cent of Republican primary voters in Virginia and 32 per cent in North Carolina said Trump – who faces four criminal cases – would no be fit to be president if convicted of a crime.

Small signs of positivity for Haley were not enough to keep her in the race, with the former South Carolina governor bowing out the next day.

Weeks ago, she had pledged to stay in the race until Super Tuesday.

She called on Trump to “earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him” as she stepped down.

It now throws into question whether she will support Trump if he becomes the party’s nominee, which looks increasingly certain.