The Iowa caucus takes place Monday and it remains to be seen if Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton and leading Republican candidate Donald Trump can convert their advantage in the polls into solid victories, or whether other candidates will emerge as the 2016 election season gets well and truly underway.
Based on the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll conducted from Tuesday to Friday, with results released on Saturday, Trump is still in the lead in the GOP with 28 percent, while his closest rival Ted Cruz has 23 percent support. Senator Marco Rubio and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson follow with double-digit ratings at 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
Carson received the highest favorability rating at 72 percent, followed by Rubio with 65 percent; Cruz comes next with 65 percent and Trump is in fourth place with lowly 50 percent. There was also a tie for Rubio and Carson when it comes to how enthusiastic voters will feel about their candidate.
Many expect things to be a close fight among the top candidates, but according to Maryland-based GOP strategist Stuart Stevens, who is on the neutral side for this year's election, the real estate mogul, Trump, should claim his expected win in Iowa.
"But he has little room for error. He is almost no one's second choice," Stevens said, according to a report from Des Moines Register.
Over to the Democratic side, the same poll found the former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton with 45 percent, while her only realistic rival, independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is trailing only just behind with 42 percent. However, as the difference falls within the margin of error the Democratic polls make it a statistical dead heat between the two, meaning Monday's results will be extremely interesting indeed, and could have huge implications going forwards.
According to the poll, 83 percent of likely Democrats have already made up their mind about supporting Clinton, while 69 percent of Sanders' supporters are firm with their decision.
When it comes to being well-liked, there's not much difference between the two candidates, but the enthusiasm of likely voters is much higher for Clinton compared to Sanders.
The Iowa caucus Monday night is the first caucus for this year's elections, but it will be a long road to the White House, and today's winners are far from guaranteed to be the ultimate winners of the party primaries, and things are likely to change significantly between now and the general election.
