This Monday, January 15, the first race for presidential candidates in the United States begins. The state of Iowa will vote to define the presidential candidate for the Republican Party through the caucus system or electoral assemblies. The favorite is former President Donald Trump, although extreme winter weather conditions in Iowa could affect the election.
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“Defy the climate and save America,” declared Donald Trump to a crowd of supporters on the eve of the Iowa Republican Party caucus, whose start was interrupted by the weather.
Republican presidential candidates urged their supporters to brave extreme and potentially deadly temperatures, according to the Weather Service, in the state of Iowa to vote in the party's first nominating contest on Monday, amid fears that a cold snap expected record may keep many voters at home. .
Freezing weather in the Midwestern state has become an obstacle to the crucial race that could help seal former President Donald Trump's bid to become the Republican nominee in November's general election.
His main rivals, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, are counting on good results in Iowa to put an end to Trump's winning signal. But extreme cold could alter those calculations by suppressing voter turnout.
At a rally, Trump urged his supporters to dress warmly and joked that single attendees could meet their future spouses if they showed up Monday night.
“You can't stay home… Even if you vote and then you die, it's worth it,” Trump said with a laugh.
Extreme weather
Iowa roads are littered with abandoned cars stuck in snowbanks, political signs have disappeared under the snow and one journalist said on social media that her coffee had frozen.
Jane Van Voorhis, a 61-year-old college fundraiser in Iowa City, said she planned to change her voter registration from Democrat to Republican “fleetingly” on Monday to cast an anti-Trump vote for Haley. Iowa allows voters to change their party affiliation on the day of the caucuses.
Candidate Ron de Santis also urged his supporters to brave the cold, saying their votes would carry more weight if the weather causes significantly lower turnout.
“We're telling our fans: go out, bring some friends and family. That's going to have a big impact,” he told CNN's “State of the Union.”
Iowa is a strategic state because it marks the triumphant or not beginning of a candidate seeking to reach the White House. Its primary system is known as a caucus and refers to the election of delegates who will choose the Republican presidential candidate.
This year, Iowa voters will have to contend with record subzero temperatures, strong winds and potential wind chills in some areas of -38 degrees Celsius or even colder.
These adverse conditions forced Trump and his main rivals, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, to cancel appearances in the final stretch of the campaign. The threat of low participation this Monday is one more intrigue to a campaign that is already a mystery.
Who are Donald Trump's contenders in the primaries?
On the one hand, there is former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, the only woman on the list. Haley is one of the most iconic recent women on the right and is popular among the American business community.
On the other hand, there is the ultraconservative governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, with radical positions on immigration and abortion.
DeSantis put all his energies into Iowa, visiting each of its 99 counties in recent months. But according to the latest Des Moines Registe media polls; NBCNews; and Mediacom, Donald Trump leads with 48% of voting intention and Nikki Haley is in second position with 20%.
On the Democratic side, the outgoing president, Joe Biden, 81, already has the official support of his party for re-election. Unless something extraordinary happens with Biden's candidacy, another candidate should be named in August.
With Reuters, AFP and local media
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