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With less than 36 hours before the start of the Iowa caucuses, the final Des Moines Register poll is out — and Donald Trump still has a massive lead going into the event.
Trump has the support of 48% of the caucusgoers, while Nikki Haley is a distant second with 20%. Ron DeSantis has faded into third place with just 16% of the vote.
The winter storm moving through the area dumped several inches of snow on the roads, which is nothing Iowans can’t handle. The worry is the extreme cold that has settled over the Midwest, making travel hazardous. No one, not even hearty Iowans, likes to go outside when it’s 10 or 15 below zero.
How that affects turnout is a crapshoot.
With Trump far ahead in Iowa, ahead in New Hampshire and Nevada, and ahead in Haley’s home state of South Carolina, one has to ask: Does it matter who finishes second in any of those states?
What matters in any of these early races is a candidate exceeding expectations. Eventually, expectations won’t matter as Trump’s lead in the delegate count grows.
