Trump set for big first win in White House race
‘We’re going to defeat Crooked Joe’
DONALD Trump is set to romp to victory in the Iowa caucus tonight with polls giving him nearly half of all republican votes to be their presidential candidate.
The former president is on course to get 48 per cent of the vote in the first state to decide who will be the republican nominee.
In a speech, he called on republicans to ‘get out and vote’ and give him a ‘victory that would echo all around the world’.
He said: ‘I believe Iowa is going to speak loud and clear. You’re first in the nation for a reason’.
Mr Trump has dominated the republican field for months and if he wins the nomination he would almost certainly face a rematch with Joe Biden in the November election.
Despite being charged in four criminal cases, Mr Trump retains an iron grip on his party.
Tomorrow Mr Trump is expected to be in New York where a jury will be told he should pay over $10million (€9million) to a journalist who a court ruled he had raped.
Republicans seem unconcerned by this or Mr Trump embracing authoritarian policies and saying he would be a ‘dictator on day one’. The Iowa caucus marks the beginning of the official process by which republicans and democrats elect their candidates for the presidential election. Iowans will select around delegates who will vote for Iowa’s candidate at the Republican National Convention, which takes place on July 15.
The state has significant importance in the election because it is the first in the primary calendar – with primaries being a name for how other states elect their candidate.
All the major candidates bar Mr Trump have blitzed the state with personal appearances and a staggerJanuary ing $258million spent on advertising.
Mr Trump has instead acted as if he already has the nomination sewn up and has been relying on his allies to do the groundwork while he conducts telerallies. The votes take place at 7pm local time, or 1am on Tuesday in the UK, and the first results are expected within a few hours.
A final poll from the Des Moines Register and NBC put Mr Trump in 48 per cent, his former UN ambassador Nikki Haley on 20 per cent and Florida governor Ron DeSantis on 16 per cent. Mr DeSantis, a culture warrior who has clashed with Disney over gay rights, had been tipped as a challenger to Mr Trump but his campaign has faltered.
Ms Haley is seen as an establishment alternative and is eyeing an upset in New Hampshire, the first primary on 23. Speaking in Indianola, Iowa, Mr Trump emerged on stage wearing a white hat which read: ‘Trump Caucus Captain’ in gold letter as he stood in front of the crowd.
With cheers, Mr Trump repeated his 2016 presidential election and said: ‘We’re going to defeat crooked Joe Biden and take back our country, we’re going to make America great again’. He mocked the indictments – or criminal charges – against him and said that he ‘got indicted more than the late great gangster Alphonse Capone’ – referring to Al Capone.
An ABC News poll last night found Mr Biden’s approval rating is just 33 per cent, worse than Mr Trump’s as president, which was 36 per cent. Voters say they are concerned about Mr Biden’s age as at 81 he is the oldest president in history and would be 85 at the end of his next term.