Donald Trump landslide victory on Monday in Iowa’s caucuses, the first vote in the US presidential race, cemented his status as the presumptive Republican standard-bearer to challenge US President Joe Biden in November’s election.
The former president has led polling for more than a year, but the contest offered the clearest insight yet into his ability to convert that advantage into a stunning White House return.
Major US networks took just half an hour to call the race, with Trump taking 51 per cent of the vote and opening an unprecedented 30-point gap over Ron DeSantis — the biggest victory for an Iowa challenger in modern history. The Florida governor and Trump’s other main rival — former UN ambassador Nikki Haley — were locked at 21 and 19pc respectively, with DeSantis projected to take the runner-up spot. “Trump is the dominant candidate (in the Republican Party) and ‘contest one’ confirms the reality,” Julian E. Zelizer, professor of Public Affairs at Princeton University, told AFP. There had been questions whether Trump would be hamstrung by his legal problems, as he faces multiple civil and criminal trials this year.
But the extent of his victory demonstrated the 77-year-old’s success in turning his prosecutions into a rallying cry that has galvanised his followers as he takes his momentum into New Hampshire, the next state to nominate, next Tuesday.—AFP
