Former President Donald Trump won the Iowa Republican caucus on Monday night.
After precincts closed, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis fell in second place followed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. This was an upset for Haley who was projected by the Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll to come in second with 20 percent of votes as of Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024.
With Haley being the closest challenger to Trump, polls indicated that her supporters were 9 percent extremely enthusiastic in comparison to Trump’s 49 percent.
In the previous poll, DeSantis sat ahead of Haley with 19 percent while Haley was at 16 percent.
It was predicted that the wind chill warnings and varying road conditions across the state with recent blizzards could affect the turnout for candidates.
The National Weather Service’s website predicted that highs in Des Moines could reach 1 degree Fahrenheit with a wind chill as low as -20 degrees Fahrenheit. Iowa City temptress could reach temperatures as high as -4 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill values as low as -25 degrees Fahrenheit.
Despite hazardous weather, Iowans made it out to caucus sites across the state.
The Iowa Democrats held in-person caucus meetings but will send in presidential preference cards by mail until Feb. 19. The Democratic results will not be revealed until Super Tuesday on March 5.
The first state to release numbers for the Democratic Party will be South Carolina when traditionally South Carolina comes after Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
The change follows the 2020 Iowa Caucuses after the Democratic National Committee criticized the time and accessibility of the caucuses. In 2020, it took the Democratic Party about a week to have results totaled.
The next opportunity for Republicans to place their votes will be in New Hampshire on Friday, Jan. 23, 2024.
