The 2024 race for US presidency has begun today in Iowa. The upper-mid west state hosts the first Caucuses of the presidential election campaign.
Donald Trump hopes to secure enough votes to force his rivals to pull out of the race.
His opponents, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley hope to put a dent in Trump’s momentum.
Listen to the episode of The Briefing now:
Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by Chas Licciardello, host of the ABC’s Planet America to explain why the Iowa Caucus is so important in the race to the White House.
First though, what’s a Caucus for those who aren’t aware? Well, it’s the opportunity for voters in individual states to vote and endorse a particular candidate.
With Iowa kicking things off, eyes will be watching closely to see who emerges as front runner, which is looking like will be Trump.
“Trump is ahead by 30 points in a lot of polls. In some polls it’s as little as 25 points, [but] that’s still a lot,” Licciardello said.
“So, Donald Trump is well ahead at this point in time, and the biggest problem is it’s not just that he’s well ahead, but his main competitors are Ron De Santis and Nikki Haley and they keep on just edging ahead of each other and they’re competing against each other rather than compete against Donald Trump.
“And those two can fight amongst themselves as much as they like; there’s no second prize. So unless one of them gets close to Trump, then it is over.”
To hear the full chat, listen to the episode of The Briefing on the LiSTNR app or wherever you get your podcasts.