Trump wins in Iowa and marches towards New Hampshire, where he hopes to close the game to win the nomination. The former president swept the caucuses with 51% of the votes, wiping away any doubts about his grip on the Republican Party and the weight of his legal problems on the race for the White House. While Ron DeSantis surprisingly took second place, relegating, albeit narrowly, Nikki Haley to third. For the governor of Florida, the Iowa result is a breath of fresh air that allows him to look forward and continue to have faith. But his success over the former ambassador to the UN has a bitter taste: DeSantis wins by only two percentage points – with 21.2% against 19.1% of his rival – and his behind-the-scenes campaign admits that the main objective was not achieved, which was to contain Trump below 50%. “They had given us up for lost. They had already written our obituary, but instead we move forward, regardless of what Fox says”, said the governor, harshly criticizing the media for declaring Trump the winner after only half an hour, when in many caucuses the voting operations were just beginning.
For further information Agenzia ANSA The 2024 US marathon: primaries, conventions and voting – Indices – Ansa.it The kick-off in Iowa, Election Day on November 5 (ANSA)
At the Sheraton Hotel in Des Moines, among DeSantis’ supporters, many of whom arrived from Florida tanned and not at ease with the cold of Iowa, the emotions are mixed: on the one hand the joy of continuing the race for the White House, on the other the disappointment inflicted by Trump. In the Haley household, however, the frustration is palpable. The former governor of South Carolina had bet on the caucuses to establish herself as the real alternative to the former president, the new face of a republican party capable of turning the page from the chaotic Trump era. On the eve everything seemed to indicate that she could make it, but in the end she only came in third, failing to make inroads with her message in the rural areas of Iowa. Haley complimented Trump on his victory but she warned: “Joe Biden can win against him.” The defeat, however, did not demoralize her and she is now looking with confidence to the New Hampshire primaries to regain the necessary momentum to continue her race against Trump and Biden, the only two that she intends to face in the debates from now on. Haley could be favored by Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson’s farewell to their presidential aspirations: their moderate votes could in fact strengthen the former governor.
The exit of Vivek Ramaswamy, however, is destined to make his votes, even if few, flow towards the former president. The victory in Iowa clearly indicates that Trump “is the favorite candidate”, commented Biden, explaining that the elections have always been and continue to be “you and me against the extreme Maga Republicans”: the dem leader has every interest in have the tycoon as a rival again, considering him more vulnerable in the November elections due to his authoritarian drift. The former president swept the caucuses with the largest margin in history, beyond the wildest expectations, showing how the 91 charges brought against him did not discourage his base at all. Indeed, in Iowa, Trump doubled compared to 2016 (when he obtained only 24% of the vote) by leveraging his popularity among the over 45s in rural areas where he dominated unchallenged and on the 53% of women who voted.
“I am honored and reinvigorated. The big night that awaits us will be in November, when we take back the country”, Trump exulted with his loyalists, reiterating that the trials against him are nothing more than “election interference” engineered by Biden. The tycoon is now running with the wind at his back towards New Hampshire (he is over 40% according to the polls), with a stop in New York to appear in court for the defamation lawsuit brought against him by the writer E. Jean Carroll . A stop that reminds us of how his electoral campaign will be influenced by the legal proceedings and the expected decisions of the Supreme Court on presidential immunity and disqualification from the primaries in Colorado.
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