Trump, rivals urge Iowans to brave cold and vote in caucus

Republican presidential candidates exhorted their supporters to brave glacial, life-threatening temperatures in Iowa to vote in the party’s first nominating contest today, amid fears a predicted record cold snap could keep many voters at home.
The icy weather in the Midwestern state has become a wild card in the crucial contest that could help seal former President Donald Trump’s bid to become the Republican nominee to face Democratic President
Joe Biden in November’s general election.
His top rivals, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are banking on good showings in Iowa to puncture Trump’s air of inevitability. But the extreme cold could scramble those calculations by keeping people indoors and suppressing voter turnout.
“Together we’re going to make history but you have to show up,” Trump said in a video broadcast at one of his rallies in the city of Indianola yesterday. “The outcome in this state will send a message to the entire country and, in fact, the entire world.”
The highly regarded Des Moines Register/NBC News poll released late on Saturday found that Trump had the most supporters saying they were very enthusiastic about his candidacy, suggesting they may not be deterred by the forecast for the coldest Iowa caucus night ever — minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 30 degrees Celsius).
The poll showed Trump with 48% of support in the conservative, religious state, while DeSantis, who has staked his bid on a strong showing in Iowa, had slipped to third place, with 16% of support.
Haley, who has capitalised on donors’ disappointment with DeSantis’ lacklustre campaign, had jumped to second place with 20%.
More than 500 Trump supporters wearing trademark red baseball hats as well as heavy coats, ear muffs and boots packed into the indoor rally venue in Indianola, while outside snow pounded down on barely visible houses.
Haley posted a video of herself speaking outside next to a mound of snow as the wind blew through her hair. “I know it’s cold, but we need you out there,” Haley said. “Let’s finish this strong.”
DeSantis also urged his supporters to brave the cold, saying their votes would have greater weight if the weather leads to significantly lower turnout.
“We’re telling our supporters: You go out, you bring some friends and family. That is going to pack a big punch,” he told CNN’s State of the Union.
Underscoring how much is at stake in today’s contest, DeSantis said in a text message to supporters, “Tomorrow changes everything.”
Typically the Republican nominee is not determined until later in the year after many states have held their contests. But Trump is so far ahead of his rivals that it will be hard to stop him if he wins in Iowa and the second contest in New Hampshire on January 23.
With only the margin of Trump’s victory in Iowa appearing to be the big unknown, DeSantis and Haley are fighting furiously for second place, hoping for momentum to carry them to New Hampshire. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is also in the running, but his campaign has been flagging for several months.
Trump’s popularity with the Republican base shows his supporters’ willingness so far to look past the scores of criminal charges Trump is facing, as well as his role in the January 6, 2021, attack by his supporters on the US Capitol.
He has also faced little blowback from supporters for increasingly authoritarian language that has echoes of Nazi rhetoric, including comments that undocumented immigrants were
“poisoning the blood of our country.”
From 7pm CST today, Iowans will gather for two hours in school gymnasiums, bars and other locations to debate the Republican candidates before ranking them in order of preference. Results are typically announced within a few hours.