(Des Moines) The Iowa Republican caucuses begin Monday night and former President Donald Trump is eyeing a victory that would send a resounding message that neither the potentially deadly cold nor his legal troubles can slow his march to the inauguration. Republican Party.
The Iowa caucuses, which mark the start of the Republican presidential primary process, begin at 8 p.m. Caucus participants will gather at more than 1,500 schools, churches and community centers to debate their options, in some cases for hours, before voting by secret ballot.
While Mr. Trump projects confidence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is fighting for his political survival in a decisive race for second place. Standing in the way of Mr. DeSantis is former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, the only woman in the race. The two candidates have competed aggressively in recent weeks to emerge as a clear alternative to the former president, who has alienated many Americans and could end up convicted by the end of the year.
PHOTO CAROLYN KASTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nikki Haley went to greet Des Moines residents at the Drake Diner Monday morning.
Polls suggest Mr. Trump begins the day with a significant lead in Iowa as Mr.me Haley and Mr. DeSantis are battling for a distant second place. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson are also on the ballot, as is former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who suspended his campaign last week.
The last sound of the bell Des Moines Register/NBC News ahead of the caucuses revealed that Mr. Trump maintained a formidable lead, supported by nearly half of likely caucus attendees, compared to 20% for Nikki Haley and 16% for Ron DeSantis.
With the coldest temperatures in caucus history predicted and dangerous travel conditions in virtually every corner of the rural state, campaigns are bracing for low turnout that will test the strength of their support and their organizational strength. The final result will serve as a powerful signal for the rest of the nomination fight to determine who faces Democratic President Joe Biden in the November general election.
PHOTO JIM WATSON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
This Donald Trump supporter braved subzero temperatures to attend a rally in Indianola on January 14.
After Iowa, the Republican primary will move to New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina in the coming weeks before moving to the rest of the country in the spring. The final nominee won’t be confirmed until the party’s national convention in July, but with big victories possible in the primaries, Donald Trump will be hard to stop.
Trump’s support stable
Mr. Trump’s political strength heading into the Iowa caucuses, which come 426 days after launching his 2024 campaign, tells the remarkable story of a Republican Party that is unwilling or unable to get away from him. He lost to Mr Biden in 2020 after fueling near-constant chaos while in the White House, culminating with his supporters carrying out a deadly attack on the US Capitol.
In total, he faces 91 charges in four criminal cases, including two for his efforts to overturn the election and a third for keeping classified documents in his Florida home.
In recent weeks, Donald Trump has increasingly echoed authoritarian leaders and presented his campaign as one of retaliation. He has spoken openly about using government power to pursue his political enemies. He has repeatedly exploited rhetoric once used by Adolf Hitler to claim that immigrants entering the United States illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
But Republican voters remained unmoved.
“Trump is a Christian. He is trustworthy. He believes in the United States. And he believes in freedom,” summed up Kathy DeAngelo, 71, a retired hospital administrative worker who faced freezing weather to see Mr. Trump on Sunday.