Washington [US], January 15: On January 14, the Republican presidential candidates launched their final efforts to attract voters in Iowa before the election of candidates in this state begins on the evening of January 15 (local time).
As usual, Iowa will open the race to the White House when each party will hold caucuses to choose representative candidates. The Democratic Party will still hold meetings but will vote by mail and announce the results in March. Meanwhile, Republicans in Iowa will participate in caucuses at about 1,700 locations across the state.
According to AFP , cold weather with temperatures dropping as low as minus 32 degrees Celsius forced candidates, including former President Donald Trump, to cancel a number of voter contact events. On January 14, Mr. Trump had a campaign in the Indianola area while Ms. Nikki Haley and Mr. Ron DeSantis met with voters in Dubuque and Sioux City.
Mr. DeSantis, Governor of Florida , is betting big on his performance in Iowa as he has gone through all 99 counties of the state to call for support. However, according to the latest survey by NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom, only 16% of voters chose Mr. DeSantis, behind Ms. Haley (20%) and Mr. Trump (48%).
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy ranked fourth with 8% of the votes, higher than the 5% of the survey in December 2023. Ms. Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina, is looking for a good result in Iowa to solidify her position as Mr. Trump's main challenger before entering the vote next week in New Hampshire, where she there is a lot of support.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper