Republicans desperate to stop Donald Trump from capturing the party's presidential nomination are wrestling with whether to unite behind Ted Cruz, a polarising figure popular with the conservative Tea Party movement.
Cruz, 45, a US senator from Texas, won nominating contests in Kansas and Maine on Saturday, bolstering his argument that he is the leading alternative to Trump, 69, the blunt-spoken billionaire businessman.
Many establishment Republicans are reluctant, however, to rally behind Cruz, whom they see as too conservative for the general electorate in the November 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.
Cruz has run as an outsider bent on shaking up the Republican establishment in Washington. A favourite of evangelicals, he has called for the US to "carpet bomb" the Islamic State militant group and has pledged to eliminate the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service and four cabinet agencies.
But he angered many Republican colleagues when he led the call in 2013 for a stand-off in the US Congress that led to a 16-day shutdown of the federal government.
Republican pollster Neil Newhouse said Cruz had not yet shown an ability to appeal beyond the most conservative voters.
"The way things are going, I think it's extraordinarily unlikely that Senator Cruz becomes the focal point for Republicans who want to stop Trump," said Newhouse, who was lead pollster for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Kim Reem, a member of the executive committee of the National Federation of Republican Women, said both Trump and Cruz were polarising figures within their party. She said three factions were emerging among Republicans: those supporting Trump, those backing Cruz, and supporters of the party establishment.
"The Cruz folks don't want to yield to supporting Trump and the Trump folks don't want to yield to supporting Cruz, and some establishment folks don't want to support either one of them," said Reem. "I don't see a path to making everybody happy."
Some Republicans argue Cruz is not polling strongly enough in states such as Florida and Ohio. Both will soon hold nominating contests, leading some in the party to question whether backing Cruz would be the best way to stop Trump.
To win the nomination, 1237 delegates are needed. Cruz has won 300 and Trump 374. US Senator Marco Rubio, 44, of Florida, an establishment favourite still seen by some in the party as an option to Trump, stood to build on his 123 delegates after winning the 23-delegate Puerto Rico primary on Sunday. Ohio Governor John Kasich trails with 35 delegates.
The competition moves on Tuesday to Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii where Trump hopes to expand his lead.
Some establishment Republicans say the best way to stop Trump would be for Rubio to win the 99-delegate Florida contest and Kasich the 66-delegate Ohio primary. Both states award all their delegates to the top vote-getter.
If Cruz, Rubio and Kasich can collectively prevent Trump from getting the needed majority of delegates, they could force a brokered Republican Party convention in July in Cleveland.
Even if Cruz gets the second-highest vote total, he may have trouble claiming the nomination at the convention over Trump.
Cruz has feuded with party leadership, including Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, and has often accused fellow Republicans of selling out conservative principles.
Although he has been in the Senate for four years, Cruz has not won a single endorsement from any other senator. He touts that on the campaign trail as evidence he is an outsider.
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