The final poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus goers had businessman Donald Trump increasing his lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as the leaders on the Republican side, with Sanders and Clinton in a tight race on the left.
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ABC News says a big turnout Monday night could bode will for Sanders and Trump, who are polling well among those who haven’t previously participated in the caucuses.
Crowds swarmed candidates scurrying throughout Iowa on Sunday, volunteers and campaign organizers knocked on doors and dialed their way through voter contact lists, and a barrage of radio and TV ads – many of them scorchingly negative – provided a harsh soundtrack to an otherwise sunny and unseasonably mild day.
On the Republican side, Sen.
A win for Trump could validate a campaign that has alarmed the Republican establishment, dwarfed the efforts of many seasoned politicians and been marked by controversies such as his calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and for a wall along the Mexican border.
Tonight, the first ballots of the 2016 presidential contest will be counted in Iowa, and they will inevitably have an impact on polls conducted in the days to come, either by reinforcing the trends that have already taken shape or by reframing the entire contest. The RealClearPolitics average has Trump leading Cruz by fewer than 5 points – 28.6 percent to 23.9 percent.
“We can and we will get back to the founding principles that made America great”, Cruz said on Twitter.
Rubio’s third place finish established him as the Republican establishment’s main alternative to Trump and Cruz. The scope of the billionaire’s organization in Iowa is a mystery, though Trump himself has intensified his campaign schedule during the final sprint, including a pair of rallies Monday. He dismissed the attacks against him as “politics as usual”. Rick Santorum, respectively, neither of whom won the nomination. But Obama’s unexpected 2008 victory was instrumental in his path to the Democratic nomination, easing the anxieties of those who anxious the young black senator would struggle to win white voters.
Quinnipiac University released its last Iowa poll before the caucuses.
The Iowa Caucuses will go into motion Monday night.
The most recent poll from The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg shows support for Clinton slightly above Sanders among likely Democratic caucusgoers, with 45 percent to Sanders’ 42 percent.
Interest and turnout appeared to be high on both sides.
Iowa has used the caucus process since 1846, according to the Republican Party of Iowa, but it only truly gained prominence in the early 1970s.
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Democrats form groups at caucus sites, publicly declaring their support for a candidate.
