Paris is gone next week unless she steps up, but I doubt it. She has a tendency to oversing everything, and really doesn't have a handle on soft and slow passages. Another few years of experience might see her in the top three... but fifth is probably as far as she will go.
Taylor, Katharine and Elliot will have to play the consistency game after Paris is gone to fight for top three positions.
Taylor has a big fan base. He should have been eliminated during the "country" episode (when Mandisa was), but he wasn't even bottom three. I
do like the guy, though. When he's on his game, he makes my hair stand on end. There are flashes of brilliance there every now and then. But I haven't seen that in the past few episodes. He's got a problem singing songs outside his comfort zone. His clarity is also sometimes in question (might just be my ears, though...

).
Elliot is very talented, flexible and smooth. Great projection and diction. His only weaknesses are song choice (mostly show-off-your-range songs, but not always knock-your-socks-off songs) and a lower volume range than the other singers (subjectively... he can't sing loud songs). He can go all the way on the right songs.
Chris is incredible. I didn't like him a few episodes ago, because he seemed so one dimensional. But when he's asked to sing, he can sing. He could win if he doesn't mess up. His one problem, as I see it, is connecting with the audience... something that Katharine does so much better.
Katharine isn't the strongest singer, but she's sexy, charming and incredibly confident (I'd say overconfident, but she can actually sing). Her problem has been consistency. Thing is, even when her singing isn't at its best, she can connect. If she stays consistent, she
will win. One slip, though, and she's out. She didn't mess up
that badly when America put her in the bottom three, so she really has to
watch it.