Over the weekend, the candidates barnstormed the sparsely populated Midwestern state of Iowa in an attempt to court undecided voters. 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.
Advertisement
But that script could be rewritten in a heartbeat with the gantlet of early-state votes that begins Monday in Iowa.
Among first-time voters, Sanders holds a major lead over Clinton, 62 to 35 percent, while Clinton holds a 9-point lead among those who have caucused before.
Check out the the full “Morning Joe” interview with Donald Trump.
The poll results are consistent with other recent surveys that have found Sanders and Trump in the lead, although the UMass Lowell poll has both Trump and Sanders leading by larger margins than other recent polls.
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and Republican front runners Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson are looking to make their mark as the march towards November continues.
A Des Moines Register/Bloomberg News poll of Iowa voters released on Saturday showed Trump in the lead with 28 per cent, Cruz second at 23 per cent and Rubio in third with 15 per cent. Do Democrats back Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders?
The front runners in the opening round of the race to see which candidates run for U.S. president are just a few percentage points apart from each other.
The number of “very conservative” voters in the caucus would also drop to around 40 percent, if Quinnipiac is correct. Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s main rival.
Here’s a warning about watching the Iowa caucuses: There’s not a lot to watch and the process is mostly incomprehensible. Yet despite all of the poll numbers, all of the ground-game statistics, and all of the fellow reporters and editors who have congregated in the Hawkeye State, it’s important to remember that Iowa doesn’t determine who wins the nomination. Ted Cruz of Texas, could be in striking distance.
Trump also prepared for, defeat saying he would still be in good shape nationally even if he lost the Hawkeye state.
In the past, numerous 168 members of the Republican National Committee (three for each state and USA territory) were free agents who could support the candidate of their choice. That would put the Republican election on par with the Democrat caucus in 2008, where Barack Obama rode a wave of new voters to victory.
The caucuses are party-run affairs, rather than elections run by the state.
The New Hampshire primary, a week from tomorrow, is considered a more reliable predictor of future success for Republicans.
For all the media attention they generate, the Iowa caucuses do not always provide an accurate guide to who the final nominee will be, particularly in the case of the Republicans, where the last two winners – Rick Santorum in 2012 and Mike Huckabee four years previously – failed to win the nomination.
Advertisement
He said he was confident of taking New Hampshire and many other contests down the road. Republicans cast secret ballots; Democrats gather in candidate affinity groups and then reshuffle if some voters stood for a candidate who does not have enough support to be viable.
