WEST DES MOINES, Iowa—Throughout the entire 2024 campaign, former President Donald Trump has seemed destined to win the Iowa caucuses. What wasn’t foretold, however, was the stranglehold Trump would display over Republican caucusgoers.
On Monday night, Trump displayed sheer dominance over the rest of the field, seemingly blowing out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and the rest of the field.
Precincts hadn’t called any results yet, but networks and the Associated Press were ready to call it around 7:30 p.m. Central, just minutes after caucusgoers began casting their votes. In some precincts, like one in West Des Moines where The Daily Beast was observing the count, Republicans had not even started voting.
While the exact margins weren’t known yet, it was clear from entrance polls that Trump was going to dominate the caucuses.
From the jump, Trump’s team has treated Iowa as their first and best opportunity to slam the door shut on whoever remained in the primary field, sending a clear message that the nomination was essentially his.
It’s not yet safe to declare the whole primary contest over, but the performances from Haley and DeSantis in Iowa are poised to reflect that the appetite among Republicans for a non-Trump candidate is even more meager than expected.
Entrance polls suggested a majority of Iowa voters identify with the MAGA movement. Alarmingly, two-thirds of these Republican caucus goers said they do not believe that President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win was legitimate—a line Trump has pushed for more than three years that is unhinged from reality.
For DeSantis, who increasingly bet on a strong Iowa performance as his poll numbers stagnated, the caucus results are likely to jack up the pressure on him to withdraw from the race—though the campaign promised over the weekend to move directly onto Iowa and South Carolina.
For Haley, who has polled within striking distance of Trump in New Hampshire, the bar is now even higher for her performance in that state’s primary on Jan. 23. The former Trump Cabinet official has campaigned heavily there, hoping that an upset victory could change the dynamic of this mostly consistent race.
And for Vivek Ramaswamy, who’d staked his attention-grabbing campaign on Iowa, the result likely marks the final chapters of one of this primary campaign’s few surprising storylines.
Even if Haley pulls off an upset in New Hampshire, though, the Iowa performance previewed what could be the ultimate story of this primary: Trump dominance punctuated with minor fits of resistance.
It’s likely that plenty of excuses will flow from the Arctic temperatures that walloped Iowa in the final phase of the caucus campaign.
On Friday, Trump, Haley, and DeSantis canceled events due to blizzard conditions, and the former president’s team canceled in-person events on Saturday. By Monday, subzero temperatures and blistering wind chills were making conditions genuinely dangerous around the state. Unlike with a traditional primary election, Iowa’s caucuses require participants to show up at their local caucus site and participate in person in real time—no absentee voting allowed.
Iowa observers had debated which candidate might benefit from particularly low turnout, should many potential caucus goers opt not to brave the elements on Monday night. Some operatives had noted that Trump’s high share of support from first-time caucus goers could work against him, given that newcomers could be less likely to show up.
But the religious devotion to Trump among his base ensured that he would always have a strong showing on caucus night, no matter the conditions.
Jake Lahut contributed reporting from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Trump Is Headed for a Blowout Victory in Iowa
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16.01.2024
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa—Throughout the entire 2024 campaign, former President Donald Trump has seemed destined to win the Iowa caucuses. What wasn’t foretold, however, was the stranglehold Trump would display over Republican caucusgoers.
On Monday night, Trump displayed sheer dominance over the rest of the field, seemingly blowing out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and the rest of the field.
Precincts hadn’t called any results yet, but networks and the Associated Press were ready to call it around 7:30 p.m. Central, just minutes after caucusgoers began casting their votes. In some precincts, like one in West Des Moines where The Daily Beast was observing the count, Republicans had not even started voting.
While the exact margins weren’t known yet, it was clear from entrance polls that Trump was going to dominate the caucuses.
From the jump, Trump’s team has treated........
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