US election 2016: What’s New York’s state of mind?

How you doin'? The question is not only the quintessential New York greeting, but also the best way of gauging the state of mind of voters in the presidential primary.
New York City may be so good that they named it twice, but believe it or not, there is more to the Empire State than the Big Apple.

Millions of votes — and lots of the all-important delegates — are up for grabs so the candidates have been campaigning well beyond the five boroughs.

The BBC's Anna Bressanin also hit the road to get a sense of what matters to voters from Buffalo to Brooklyn.

The Trump supporter

Rus Thompson lives in Buffalo, a lakeside city on the western edge of New York.
After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the US Army, then got a job in the building industry, where he has worked for more than 30 years.

He says Donald Trump, with his call for a wall on the US-Mexico border and deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, is "talking my language".

In nomination contests across the US Mr Trump has found the strongest support among white, working-class voters who lack a college education.

According to a Rand Corporation study, Trump supporters overwhelmingly feel like they "don't have any say" in government policy.

The Clinton supporter

Wendy Fein a retired teacher, mentor and marketer grew up in a Republican household but became a Democrat and a "full-fledged" feminist at a time when girls were told their main job was to marry and have children.

She says she has been "ready for Hillary" since before she announced her presidential bid and would support any woman candidate who has experienced struggles similar to hers.

While race has been an important factor in the Democratic nomination fight — Mr Sanders's supporters are largely white, while minority voters have fuelled Mrs Clinton's success — age has been even more determinative.

A recent poll showed Mrs Clinton with support of 62% of likely New York primary voters over the age of 65. Mr Sanders had the backing of 66% of voters ages 18 to 29.

The Sanders supporter

Natti Vogel is a 28-year-old musician who rents a flat in Brooklyn that has doubled in cost since in five years. He says he and other Bernie Sanders supporters have "moral courage" — and are pushing back against high student debt and US militarism.

Mr Sanders has been drawing huge crowds across the New York City area, including more than 20,000 in Manhattan last Wednesday. In 2008 voters age 18 to 29 made up 15% of the Democratic primary electorate — a percentage that polls indicate will be matched or exceeded this year.

Unlike Wisconsin and other recent states in which Mr Sanders has performed well, the New York primary is open only to registered Democrats. In past votes the Vermont senator has drawn as much as half of his support from political independents.

More on the New York race