(NEW YORK) — After months of hearing from presidential candidates, Iowans will face frigid temperatures Monday evening as they register their preferences in the first-in-the-nation Republican 2024 caucuses.
In a state of a little more than 3 million people, the caucuses — which can take hours to participate in — usually attract just 150,000 to 250,000 Iowans. That small group of Americans has the very first say about who will go on to vie for the presidency.
Ahead of caucus night, ABC News sat down with supporters of former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to hear why they landed on their chosen candidate. Tom Donnelly, who supports Trump, said he would gladly support Haley or DeSantis. Nicole Cleveland and Liz Lee, who support DeSantis and Haley respectively, however said they would have to do a lot of soul searching to support Trump and that it would be unlikely.
The group of caucus-goers differed on issues running the gamut from abortion, to compromising with Democrats, to the legitimacy of the 2020 election. But there was one thing they all agreed on: Iowa is deserving of its first-in-the-nation status and Americans should take their preferences seriously.
Polls ahead of the caucuses suggest Trump has a very clear advantage when it comes to those preferences, but if there are going to be any wildcards this year, a succession of brutal winter storms might just be it. Due to the bad weather, Trump had to cancel three out of his four in-person commit to caucus rallies and will instead hold a series of telerallies.
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