Five takeaways from the Iowa GOP caucuses

Former President Trump won a landslide victory in the Iowa Republican caucuses on Monday, marking the first major test of the former president's dominance in the Republican field.

All eyes are now on New Hampshire, where former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who lags far behind Trump in the Hawkeye State, are being targeted. The president holds the lead.

Polls show Haley doing well in the Granite State and could keep the race competitive there, but she is ahead of other early states in South Carolina and Nevada. He faces doubts about his ability to survive ahead of the Games.

DeSantis, on the other hand, faces tough questions after coming in a close second in Iowa, where he invested a lot of resources.

As expected of Trump, the former president received a last-minute push from Vivek Ramaswamy, who announced on Monday night that he was suspending his campaign and supporting Trump.

Here are five takeaways from the frigid Iowa Republican caucus.

Trump wins as expected

Trump handily won the Iowa Republican caucus less than an hour after voting sites opened at 8 p.m. ET.

Decision Desk Headquarters projected Trump as the winner of the Hawkeye State at 8:46 p.m., and then projected DeSantis as a distant second-place winner.

Although Iowa is just the first state to hold a presidential nominating contest, Trump's expected victory highlights his control over the Republican Party and puts Haley and Haley in several early voting states. It raises the stakes for DeSantis.

Trump's landslide victory came amid questions about how Iowa's frigid temperatures would affect turnout.Des Moines National Weather Service I wrote to XMonday “turned out to be the coldest Iowa caucus day in history since 1972,” the website formerly known as Twitter said.

But even the harsh weather couldn't keep Trump supporters away. As of early Tuesday morning, results from Decision Desk headquarters showed he had received well over 50 percent of the vote.

Haley gets what she needs in Iowa

Haley finished third in Iowa, meeting modest expectations, but recent polls had her in second place.

However, even after the press predicted DeSantis would finish second, Haley continued to promote the results to supporters.

“At one point in this campaign, there were 14 of us running. We were at 2 percent in the polls. But tonight, Iowa did well what Iowa always does,” Haley said.

“Experts are going to analyze the results from all angles. We get that. But if you look at where we are in New Hampshire, South Carolina and other places, tonight, Iowa is going to close this Republican primary. I can definitely say that we had a two-person election,” she added.

The comments indicated that Haley has already pivoted to New Hampshire, where she is considered a much stronger candidate than DeSantis. Polls in the Granite State generally place her in second place behind the former president, with some polls showing her trailing him by single digits.

New Hampshire polls compiled by Decision Desk HQ and The Hill averaged 42% for Trump, 31% for Haley and nearly 7% for DeSantis. But Haley still faces a long road to challenge Trump, given that the former president still leads her rival in both early state polls and national polls.

DeSantis faces a difficult decision on whether to stay in the race.

DeSantis has not indicated he might withdraw from the race, telling CNN on Sunday that he is in the long race.

“They were so excited about the fact that they predicted we weren't going to get ticketed out of here in Iowa. But all I can say is that with everything they threw at us, And yet, thanks to your support, everyone turned against us and we got ticketed out of Iowa,” DeSantis told supporters at a watch party Monday night. .

Still, the upcoming map poses challenges for a governor who has devoted so much energy to the Hawkeye State. He's a distant third in New Hampshire at 6.6 percent, according to the Hill/Decision Desk headquarters average. South Carolina also sees DeSantis coming in a distant third on average at 9.4%.

Haley's campaign is also focusing on New Hampshire and South Carolina, putting her in an even worse position. Given that Mr. DeSantis is primarily trying to appeal to the same conservative voters as Mr. Trump, he faces a difficult question about how he can realistically secure the nomination.

Early race call invites backlash

Mr. Trump had been projected as the winner of the Iowa caucuses early in the night, a fact that drew ire from Mr. DeSantis' allies and criticism from some members of the media.

The Associated Press called the race at 8:31 p.m. ET, while NBC News called the race at approximately 8:33 p.m. ET. Decision Desk headquarters, affiliated with The Hill, called the race at 8:46 p.m. ET.

“It is completely outrageous that the media would call a campaign and participate in election interference before tens of thousands of Iowans have cast their votes. The media is on Mr. Trump's side and has always been. This is the most egregious example of this,” DeSantis campaign communications director Andrew Romeo said in a statement in response to a news outlet's campaign call.

DeSantis' campaign manager, James Usmayer, also criticized the early race call as “terrible” in an interview with NBC News.

Meanwhile, a super PAC supporting DeSantis sent an email criticizing CNN, AP, ABC News and NBC News for their early race calls and pointing out their respective policies on predicting the winner.

However, some journalists also questioned the decision to invite President Trump to the meeting early.

“Very early results show Trump won by a landslide, but early network calls are a little questionable. People are still in the caucus halls, they have phones, How many people will look at it and bail?” Semafor reporter Dave Weigel I wrote it to X.

“The Associated Press has published a short explanation of why the caucuses were called so quickly for Trump, but the caucuses were called while voters in many districts were still casting ballots. I haven't touched on the controversy.” As Kirk Budd of the National Journal on X pointed out:

Early campaign calls are unlikely to have significantly shaped the contours of the campaign, but they may arouse skepticism among a population already prone to doubt the election results, as reported in the media. .

Voter turnout takes a hit amid frigid temperatures

Turnout was expected to be lower than expected because the Hawkeye State experienced frigid weather.

Decision Desk Headquarters noted that it lowered its turnout projections Monday night, saying, “Counties reporting as completed have consistently been below our expectations at the start of the caucuses.” Ta.

After 10 p.m. ET, Policy Desk Headquarters estimated that there were 110,000 voters in the caucuses, but that “this number could change as data from the IA Republican Party has moved considerably. ” he warned.

By comparison, more than 180,000 people voted in 2016.

Voter turnout was likely affected by subzero temperatures in Iowa, raising questions for each candidate about how the weather would affect them.

Julia Manchester contributed reporting from Iowa.