Caucus goers braved subzero temperatures on Jan. 16, 2024, to make their voices heard, commanding former president Donald J. Trump to a dominating win in all but one of the 99 counties.
Donald Trump swept votes and won the first election of 2024 in a record-setting time of 30 minutes after only 319 votes had been counted. Beating out Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who was endorsed by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and evangelical Christian leader Bob Vander Plaats, who endorsed the last three Iowa Caucus winners. Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and UN ambassador who came in third place, spent over $31 million in ads against Trump and DeSantis but failed to take charge of her position. She managed to flip Johnson County with a single vote over Trump, not enough to legitimize her influence amongst the Iowan voters.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy finished far behind the other candidates with just over 7% of the votes, later announcing that he would end his presidential bid and endorse Trump as the only other ‘America First’ candidate who could get the job done after the results became clear.
Trump won almost every demographic group in Iowa by double digits, particularly very conservative voters and rural voters.
When Trump was asked about how he felt about winning the Iowa Caucus and setting a new record in both time and quantity of votes, he replied, “I feel great… I am greatly honored by such an early call… It really is an honor that, minutes after, they’ve announced I’ve won, against very credible competition, great competition, actually… It is a tremendous thing and a tremendous feeling… I feel really invigorated and strong for our country… We want to Make America Great Again, the greatest slogan ever, and the fact is, that’s what we did.”
According to polls, more than 6 in 10 caucusgoers consider themselves supporters of the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement and more than 74% of them supported Trump last night. Overall over 6 in 10 caucusgoers say they would be satisfied with a Trump presidency and far fewer would be satisfied with DeSantis or Haley as the party’s nominee.
DeSantis’ main source of strength in the Iowa caucuses was the college-educated and very conservative voters, which overlapped with Haley’s target audience, however, DeSantis’ advantages among white evangelicals and those who felt abortion should be illegal in all cases secured his second place spot.
Although Trump made history last year by becoming the first former president to face countless charges and numerous indictments, including charges that claim he tried to overturn the 2020 election results, it has only fueled his support among Americans who believe he can get the job done and help the United States reemerge out of record high inflation, crime, and illegal immigration from the southern border.
Donald Trump currently holds a lead of 16 points in New Hampshire, the next state on the path to presidency, and the GOP frontrunner has his eyes set on that path. According to polls, Donald Trump has the majority of support in the Granite State– 52% among likely primary GOP voters.
