Former President Donald Trump urged his supporters to brave the cold temperatures and take part in Monday’s Iowa caucus, where polls show he has a massive lead over other GOP candidates.
At a rally in Indianola on Sunday, President Trump encouraged Iowa supporters to come out and vote. “You can’t sit home. If you’re sick as a dog, you say, ‘Darling, I gotta make it,’” he said while jokingly adding that “even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it.”
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Des Moines is predicting “dangerously cold temperatures with wind chills” down to -40 to -45 degrees Fahrenheit through Tuesday. Due to the freezing weather, the former president was forced to cancel three out of his four in-person events in Iowa on Sunday.
Other GOP candidates also asked supporters to beat the weather and take part in the caucus. “If you’re willing to brave the cold for a few hours tomorrow for the Iowa caucus, I’ll be spending the next eight years fighting for you and fighting for this country,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told supporters.
Last week, Vivek Ramaswamy said during a campaign event in Sioux City that the cold weather could “work to our advantage” as the people who support him are “very passionate folks,” according to NBC.
The final NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll showed President Trump having a massive lead over all other GOP candidates before the caucus.
While the former president was the “first choice” of 48 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers, Nikki Haley came in second with 20 percent support, Mr. DeSantis 16 percent, and Mr. Ramaswamy 8 percent.
Trump supporters encouraged people to attend the Monday caucus, insisting on its importance for the nation.
“Iowa in January isn’t for the faint of heart. But snow and cold weather won’t stop Iowans from caucusing for President Trump. On Monday, Iowa is going to help get our country back on track,” Kari Lake, a U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona for the 2024 election, said in a Jan. 14 X post.
“Please don’t take the Caucus for granted. Don’t let the weather keep you inside. It’s imperative that every Trump supporter comes out and Caucuses for President Trump on Monday, January 15th,” investigative journalist Laura Loomer said in a Jan. 13 post on X.
“Be there before 6:30 pm and leave early to calculate possible weather delays since you have to drive slower in the snow. We need a major blowout victory for President Trump on Monday!”
Last week, Iowa Republican Party chair Jeff Kaufmann dismissed concerns that cold weather will affect caucus turnout. It would take a “major, major ice storm” to disrupt the voting process on the day, he told reporters, according to NBC.
“I don’t think cold keeps people away,” Mr. Kauffman said. He equated the caucuses with football games that are “going to go on no matter what” and said that the GOP has no contingency plans in place.
Confident Candidates
Despite lagging behind President Trump, Mr. DeSantis, Ms. Haley, and Mr. Ramaswamy have expressed confidence ahead of the caucus.
“I think we’ve always had a target on our back because we’ve been the one moving up. Everybody else is going down, and that’s a great thing,” Ms. Haley said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
“But the real poll, you know, is on caucus day. And what we’ve said is we just want to come out of Iowa looking strong. We want to come out of New Hampshire strong. We want to come out of South Carolina strong.”
Mr. DeSantis echoed a similar sentiment in his interview with the outlet, saying that his team has a “great path going forward.”
“We’re going to do well on Monday. We’ve got an unbelievable organization. We’ve got large numbers of Iowans that have committed to caucus force that are going to show up,” he said.
“We’ve worked very hard over the last six months to go to all 99 counties to build the organization, to get people at their doors committed. And so, we’re looking forward to it. We’ve done it the right way.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Ramaswamy predicted during a Saturday town hall that “we’re going to deliver a shock on Monday night,” according to TV station KTIV.
“I think we’re going to win the Iowa caucus, and that’s going to propel us to the next phase of this race … The polls are totally off, many of the caucus-goers who are supporting us are first-time caucus-goers. I think that’s got the race set up exactly the way we want it. The expectations are set moderately for me, but we’re going to shatter those expectations.”
Speaking to The Hill, David Kochel, an Iowa-based Republican strategist, said that the weather would act as a “wild card” in the caucus.
“Most of us politicos can see trends and make smart predictions, but this weather is so extreme … Thirty-five below is too much for a lot of people to deal with, and it’s hard to say how much impact it will have on turnout or which candidate benefits and which suffers from a big drop in turnout.”
As such, the enthusiasm of the supporters for their candidates could play a big factor. According to the NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll, President Trump again carries an advantage in this regard.
While 49 percent of Trump supporters said they were “extremely enthusiastic” about their candidate, this dropped to 23 percent among DeSantis supporters, and then to just 9 percent among those who support Ms. Haley.
From The Epoch Times