On Jan. 15, former president Donald Trump secured a record-setting win in the Iowa GOP caucuses, garnering the most votes in 98 of 99 counties. Astoundingly, the only county Trump lost was to rival Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor, who collected 1,271 votes in Iowa’s Johnson County to Trump’s 1,270 with 99 percent of the votes counted, a difference of just one vote.
In total, Trump received 51.1 percent of the vote compared to second place finisher, Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ 21.2 percent, which was slightly ahead of Haley’s 19.1 percent.
Voters braved extreme cold and dangerous driving conditions to pack hundreds of schools, churches and community centers across the state to come out and vote.
Trump’s commanding win prompted rival, Vivek Ramaswamy, to drop out of the presidential race and to endorse Trump. In conversation with Fox News, Ramaswamy said that both DeSantis and Haley should also drop out and endorse the former president.
Speaking to Fox News anchor Jesse Watters, Ramaswamy said, “I think Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley would actually, at this point, do this country and this party a service by stepping aside to make sure that we’re focused on not only nominating Donald Trump but getting this country back and reviving those founding revolutionary ideals.”
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
When pressed for clarification on whether or not he was calling for Haley and DeSantis to drop out of the race, Ramaswamy said, “I am, and I do think that would be healthy for this country.”
Many are speculating that Ramaswamy may be Trump’s pick for running mate, who is on a list of contenders that includes Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, and presidential rival Nikki Haley, among others.
READ MORE:
- Support for Trump Grows as Biden’s Approval Drops, WSJ Survey Finds
- Accommodating Migrants a Concern for an Overwhelming Number of New Yorkers: Quinnipiac University Poll
- Some Chinese Goods to Remain Exempt From Trump-era Tariffs Until June 2024
By the numbers
In total, Trump garnered 56,260 votes and gained 20 delegates, while DeSantis collected 23,420 votes and gained eight delegates. Haley attracted 21,085 votes and gained seven delegates and Ramaswamy garnered just 8,449 votes and three delegates.
According to the Associated Press’s VoteCast, the demographics in the state favored Trump, with voters focused on two major issues, immigration and the economy.
Nearly nine in 10 Iowa voters back building a border wall along the U.S. southern border and a large majority, about three-quarters, say current immigration levels are hurting the country.
Roughly four in 10 Iowa caucus-goers identified immigration as the most important issue facing the country, an issue Trump has kept in the foreground.
No one has won a victory in Iowa by more than 12 points before, making Trump’s 30 percent margin a record-setter.
“Mr. Trump’s victory was a broad one as well. He won the young and old, men and women. He also won over the evangelical and hard-right conservative voters he had difficulty winning in 2016,” the BBC reported.
Trump’s performance in Iowa marks his first step to securing the Republican Party’s nomination to run in November’s presidential election.
New Hampshire state primary
Up next is the state primary in New Hampshire which will be held on Jan. 23.
According to polling by ABC News’s 538, Trump is expected to attract over 43 percent of the vote, while Haley is expected to push DeSantis out of the second place spot and garner 30.5 percent of the vote. DeSantis is expected to only garner 5.4 percent of the vote.
These most recent polling numbers come as legacy media networks, CNN and ABC news, announced that they will be canceling their New Hampshire Republican primary debates.
On Jan 17. A CNN spokesperson said that the network is canceling the debate, originally scheduled for Sunday, after only one qualified candidate accepted an invitation to the event, Politico reported.
To date, Trump has skipped every GOP primary debate, however hinted that he would engage in a debate with one of his Republican rivals should the race become “very close.”
However, so far, it doesn’t appear as though any Republican has come close to beating Trump on any metric.
