Although 2024 just began, many eyes are already turning to November for the Presidential Election. It is crunch time for the candidates, with the primary season heating up fast. The first Republican primaries and caucuses of the year are underway, with Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada being the opening to a long political year. Former President Donald Trump handily won the Iowa Caucus on Jan. 15 and secured another historic win in the New Hampshire Primary on Jan. 23, as well as in the Nevada Caucus on Feb. 8, with former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley coming in second.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy both suspended their campaigns just after the Iowa Caucus, narrowing the race to Trump and Haley. Ramaswamy went out by saying that the Republican party needs to unite around the former President as their nominee and that he is the right choice for all Republican voters.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also endorsed the former President for the nomination. Tim Scott of South Carolina, an old friend of Haley, also endorsed and has started to campaign with Trump. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson suspended his campaign quickly after the Iowa Caucus, after gaining zero delegates, and endorsed Nikki Haley.
Donald Trump became the first non-incumbent nominee to win both the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary in a single election cycle. In 2016, Texas Senator Ted Cruz won the Iowa Caucus and Trump won the New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina primaries. Being the incumbent, he won all states in the 2020 primaries and became the Republican nominee as expected, with only miniscule opposition.
With Trump’s victory in Nevada, the 91-time indicted former President holds three straight wins. For the past year, Trump has been in and out of court, with cases in Florida, New York, Georgia, and Washington D.C. Many in the political world have speculated on whether Trump’s trials will affect him come election time.
“Honestly it could go either way since a lot of people like him, and some people hate him,” Krish Joshi (’25) said.
Going up against the current President Joe Biden could be no issue for Trump or Haley, with both leading him by five points, according to recent NBC and CBS polling data. Biden has been the only democrat to beat Trump, and has echoed that throughout his campaign. Both Haley and Trump have the same central issue they are running on; beat Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. A PBS poll found one-third of Republicans being dissatisfied with Trump as the nominee. In the same poll, only 34% of Republicans had a favorable view of Haley. At this point, the 2024 Election is looking to be a rematch of 2020. It is safe to say that Trump still has a commanding hold on the Republican Party, and is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination.